The Dark Army
by storytell18
Summary: Two and a half years after "Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry", Raven is in charge of the Titans Central team, but they soon wind up facing a new threat, one that has brewing for years beneath their noses and ready to strike. Rated T for violence, some language, and suggestive material.
1. Update

**Author's Notes**

With this story, I will be alternating between it and what is tentatively titled "Second Chance", which will be the alternate scenario story spun off of _Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry_. This story won't be the three-act length of the original, but will be a more modest ten to fifteen chapters. And also unlike the original, this story (and the alternate scenario story) will be rated T.

And compared to the original story, this will be more like a crime drama/sci-fi thriller, just so those of you desiring the same tone as the original won't be disappointed when the truth comes out.

Now, let's begin the story.

* * *

It was late at night in Jump City, at least two o'clock in the morning as the streets were abandoned and the moon shone brightly onto the streets as the lamp posts were all turned on.

However, the streets were not all abandoned - somebody was running for their life in these very streets, wearing brown dress shoes, khaki pants, a black sweater, and a red bowtie. Physically, they were above-average but by no means spectacular. This was good enough to keep ahead of his pursuer, who held a Glock 24 in their hand and was clad in all-black.

The pursuer opened fire on the man being chased, but he managed to dodge all of the rounds fired as they harmlessly ricocheted onto the lamp posts and the buildings. However, another chaser, also clad in black with a Remington 870 Slug Gun soon came onto the scene and trapped the man.

With nowhere to go, he ran into the alleyway next to him, jumping the gate as he tried to keep one step ahead of his pursuers. The shotgun-wielding pursuer shot the gate open before the two continued their pursuit of the man.

He tried to run as fast as he could, but his pursuers were much faster and much more agile, quickly closing the gap between him. He was forced into another alleyway but he had no way out of it and was quickly backed into the cold brick wall.

The two pursuers closed in on their victim, preparing to finish him off as they both raised their weapons at him.

Before they could fire, a pink flash came from above and quickly hit the shotgun, causing it to fall apart in their hands. The other pursuer fired the Glock into the air trying to find the source of the flash.

However, somebody jumped down wielding two katanas and kicked the Glock out of the hand of the first pursuer. The two pursuers were forced to flee before someone came along moving super-fast and tripped them both.

At last, somebody came into the air after phasing in through the streets as a white raven. The masks on the two pursuers were surrounded by a white glow and thrown off.

Raven said, "Well, look what we have here. Joan Kyle and Dale Lafferty, so you two are the Two Time Executors. You're both under arrest for the murders of Mayor Olivia Vicente, Ned Seager, and Bob Rupert. Cuff them, Ravager."

Ravager, the katana-wielding girl, replied, "Will do boss." With that, Ravager grabbed two pairs of handcuffs and put them on Joan Kyle, the Glock wielder and the Mayor's publicist and Dale Lafferty, the shotgun wielder and the Mayor's former speech writer.

Kid Flash then sped off with Kyle and Lafferty to bring them to the police station where they would be put in custody for trial of the three murders. Six days ago, two assailants ambushed the Mayor during her 2 AM stroll and shot her repeatedly in the chest and abdomen. As a result, Raven's Titans Central team was called into investigate. Three days later, the two assailants struck again by gunning down computer maintenance specialist Ned Seager, in the exact same place as the Mayor. As a result, the Titans began to suspect that Vicente and Seager were victims of serial killings. Their prime suspect, Bob Rupert, who owned a similar shotgun like that used in the killings and Seager's employer, was found dead early that afternoon with both of his hands chopped off and a shotgun blast driven through his knees, the blood loss being what killed him.

Raven walked up to the attempted victim and helped him up. She asked him, "You alright, Grant?"

Grant replied, "I've been better, boss. Remind me again why I let you turn me into bait."

Raven said, "You specialize in undercover work, plus you were the only one that could get close enough to Kyle and Lafferty. We promised you wouldn't be killed, and you're not dead."

"I guess you're right, Raven. Though you owe me for this."

"Actually, if I'm correct, we're even. Remember the Delmarco case?" Raven shuddered at the mention of that. That was not one of her better days, going undercover as a call girl for one of the city's most prominent mob bosses, only for her cover to be blown and a temporary power suppressor was thrown onto her. Had it not been for the timely arrival of Kid Flash and Ravager, Raven would have experienced much worse. She wanted Grant to go undercover as a new lackey for Delmarco but he insisted that Raven would be much better for the job, and that she is the only one that can change her appearance to accurately disguise herself to him.

"Good point."

"Let's get back to the Tower. We have reports to fill out. The sooner we get them done, the sooner we don't have to deal with them."

Jinx threw in, "I hate paperwork."

Raven rhetorically asked, "Don't we all?"

* * *

It had been two and a half years since the formation of the Titans Central team, which based itself in the Teen Titans hometown of Jump City. It's original members were just Raven (the overall leader of the Titans, having been appointed by Cyborg shortly earlier), Jinx (who had previously decided to go the straight and narrow), and her boyfriend Kid Flash.

A few days in, the pendant willed to her by Slade (whom she was forced to kill after he tried to reset time to when the Titans were first formed in order to make Raven his apprentice) began to beep, leading Raven to the middle of a desert in Saudi Arabia. In the process, she found the Diamond of Detriba hidden in the chest.

The diamond's knowledge entered her mind and she soon found Slade's three children standing in front of her - Joseph (Jericho), Grant (Red-X), and Rose Wilson (Ravager). She thought that had been impossible, seeing how they had been murdered by rogue Justice League illusionist Zatanna Zatara and Richard Grayson (the former Robin turned killer Claw), but they were real and their injuries gone.

Raven discovered that when Slade's children were each born, Slade had touched the Diamond of Detriba to their brain and heart, placing a piece of their soul inside. After their deaths, Slade hit the diamond in the chest in Saudi Arabia for Raven to find and ultimately resurrect them.

She also learned that the diamond had restored their bodies from the grave and undid the damage that was done to them - Jericho regained the voice he lost as a child and his neck was healed; Ravager's head was reattached and she regained her right eye lost at the HIVE Academy; and Grant's body now lacked the damage from the xenothium explosion that killed him.

Soon after, Raven brought them back to Titans Tower and they stayed there briefly for evaluation. In the following week or so, Raven ultimately cleared all three of Slade's children for duty. Rose kept the moniker Ravager and joined Titans Central while Grant decided to change his identity to something new, since Red X was associated as a thief. Grant's new identity would be Hustler, and his uniform consisted of a black and gray kevlar jumpsuit with matching gloves and boots, plus a mask that covered his upper lip and eyes.

Joseph retook the moniker Jericho, but unlike his siblings, he was moved to Titans North. While his older siblings were unhappy about it, they ultimately accepted it. Jericho's transfer was not because of fears of sibling rivalry - it was instead to keep the strength of Titans North at five members.

Shortly before Jericho's transfer, Kyd Wykkyd had infiltrated the Titans North tower and murdered See-More by repeatedly slashing his throat before leaving the body inside of See-More's room. The body was not found until the next day when See-More failed to show up for practice.

While Wykkyd was ultimately linked to See-More's murder, the HIVE member remained at large along with the vast majority of the HIVE population, ever since the school went defunct with Brother Blood's downfall. Gizmo and Jinx were promptly hidden until the Titans were sure that they were not targets because of their turn to the good side. After five months in hiding, the Titans realized that See-More's death was done to discourage others from joining the Titans from the HIVE - and only he was killed because Jinx and Gizmo would be too well protected to get to, not to mention that the Titans would have made measures to prevent what Wykkyd did.

At Titans North, the four other members took a quick warm-up to Jericho, who quickly entered a relationship with Kole. Raven knew that Jericho was what she expected in a gentleman - and that they were in many ways, similar. As a result, the two have developed a deep bond, similar to that between Kid Flash and Jinx.

The other Titans teams had been handling themselves remarkably well. Pantha and Wildebeest made for an effective double team on the Titans South, combined with Mas y Menos and Cyborg, criminal activity had decreased but was not altogether gone. The Titans South had also begun espionage on Cuba, providing surveillance requested by the US government and the Justice League, getting wary of recent events.

For the Titans East, Beast Boy had developed a strong relationship with Terra, and the two were now engaged, set to be married in a few months. All of the Titans are expected to be there, and hopefully nothing would interfere with it. Wonder Girl, however, was having a few issues with Speedy, his cockiness was annoying to say the least to her, and his manners would put most of the Amazons to shame. Herald frequently had to act as a mediator to prevent things from coming to blows.

On the Titans West, Hot Spot had transferred in while Kilowatt had transferred to Titans Tango. The reason being was that he wanted to be closer to Argent, whom he had warmed up to (no pun intended, there). And Bushido was making sure Thunder and Lightning were not causing too much damage with their elemental powers.

On the Titans Tango team, Gizmo had ultimately proven his worth and his loyalty by saving the Titans several times with the assistance of robotic drones he had created during his time with the HIVE (but never got the chance to use). And while Bumblebee was having a few issues working with Aqualad again, Tramm was keeping Aqualad busy for the most part so Bumblebee was less annoyed.

* * *

After returning to the Tower and filling out the necessary reports regarding the apprehension of Kyle and Lafferty, the Titans ultimately decided to crash for the night. Kid Flash and Jinx rushed off to their room (which was formerly Cyborg's room) to do their "thing", and after Raven accidentally watched them, chose to leave them alone regarding the issue, not wanting to know anymore about their love life than she ever wanted to know.

Ravager went to her simple dojo-style room, which Raven noted was often similar to Robin's old room (which was where he is), where she removed her mask, swords, and armor. She then switched out her clothing for a loose white tank top and black sweats before going to sleep.

Grant, or Hustler, went to his room (formerly Beast Boy's room) and stripped out of his business suit, which he felt was overwhelmingly constrictive before slipping on a gray undershirt and some shorts.

Raven returned to her room before slipping off her cloak and calmly going to sleep. It had been a very long day for the Titans Central team, especially with sending in Grant undercover to track down the killers. They determined that both victims (Mayor Vicente and Seager) had attended Club Old Finger in downtown Jump and the killers followed them from there. They sent Grant in as "Jeremy Lammon", giving him a covert earwig and watching over him. "Jeremy" found that the victims both had taken a swing of the Marquita Tequila after an anonymous patron bought it for them.

Ravager used the security camera feed to discover that the Marquita caused a slight disorientation, which made their victims easier to kill. "Jeremy" faked taking a sip before leaving, slipping a sample for toxin analysis. Kyle and Lafferty chased after him knowing that he could destroy their operation but were caught by the Titans.

In the past two years, the Titans had been facing much more different types of crimes - serial killers and rapists to embezzlers and fraud. The Titans broadened their skill set as the criminals widened theirs. Their efforts had ultimately brought over 600 criminals to justice, which was more than the other Titan teams, who dealt much more with the old-fashioned criminal types.

* * *

It was around noon when the Titans woke up, having been exhausted from their late night sting mission. Hustler awoke the other Titans by making his signature cream cheese and green chile empanadas, which had become a favorite amongst all of the Titans.

While the Titans were having brunch, Raven received a call from an unknown number. She accepted the call and asked, "Hello?"

An unknown voice, an apparently female and hoarse voice responded, "Is this Raven I am speaking to?"

Raven replied, "Yes. Who are you?"

The female replied, "Doctor Light."

Raven snorted slightly. "Doctor Light has been dead for about three years now. You cannot possibly be Arthur Light."

"I am not Arthur Light. I am Angela Light. His apprentice, his top student. You were responsible for his death. You drove him insane. After that first confrontation, he was never the same man he was."

"He was a monster, Angela. Not only was Light a criminal but we discovered soon after that Light was a rapist and killer. He did not deserve to live."

"A monster, you say? What a hypocrite you are, Raven, or should I say, Gem? As in the Gem of Skaath? You are the true monster here."

"If you are here to make a threat, I suggest you don't. If you threaten me or anyone on my team, the consequences will not be pleasant for you. I guarantee it."

"Good luck. If you can even find me. Don't expect to trace this phone to where I am."

The caller on the other side hung up, leaving Raven. Ravager came into the room. She said, "The caller was bouncing the call off of satellites all across the globe."

Raven sighed, "Did you get anything?"

Ravager eagerly replied, "Yes. The bouncing signal is at the docks. Pier 37. A lot of electricity is being used there as well."

Raven confidently added, "And now we're gonna get ourselves a light. Tell the others to move out."

* * *

After quickly getting dressed and ready for combat, Raven teleported her team over to Pier 37, where the caller, Angela Light was currently packing up her things.

Angela soon noticed the presence of the Titans and turned around to face them, her hands in the air like she was surrendering.

Raven asked Angela, "Why did you make that call? What the hell do you want?"

Angela replied, "Your doom." With that, she pressed a button she held in her hand to turn all the lights on incredibly bright, slightly blinding the Titans as she put on her gear with two light guns.

Jinx threw hexes at the lights, destroying them and darkening the place. However, Angela opened fire with her light guns at the Titans, forcing the Titans into cover.

Hustler moved out of cover first, throwing several smoke discs at Angela, slightly blinding her but her light guns tore through the discs like they were nothing. Hustler threw some exploding shurikens at her, but she dodged all of them as they impacted and exploded.

Angela was able to land two clean hits on Hustler's abdomen, blasting him back. He had some nasty burns on his abdomen but was otherwise alright. Ravager jumped in and managed to get two clean swipes at Angela's light guns, destroying them. Angela replied by blasting Ravager away with two palm light weapons.

Ravager cried out, "She's armed to the teeth with light."

Raven replied, "Then someone has to show her the dark." With that, Raven grabbed two of the lights and threw them at Angela. Angela struck both lights before they impacted, but they released a bit of shrapnel in the form of broken glass and tungsten and spark damage that briefly blinded her.

Kid Flash soon came in and zipped around Angela, removing all of her weapons and rendering her harmless. After Angela regained her sight, she saw she was completely defenseless and was now constrained into two arms of white energy.

Raven levitated up and was now right in Angela's face. Raven asked, "Why did you make the call?"

Angela replied, "To bring you to your knees."

"Why bring up your mentor Doctor Arthur Light?"

"To remind you who you were dealing with. His only weakness was his fear of you, and I don't have that. He trained it into me."

"Why now? He's been dead for so long. It was all over the news. What in the right mind would possess you to make a threat about a guy who's been dead for three years? And to a person you've known where they were?"

"Because it was time."

"For what, Angela? Tell me and we may lighten your sentence?"

"For it to begin."

"What, Angela?"

Before Angela could speak, a bullet ripped through the side of Angela's head, killing her in an instant. A shocked Raven dropped Angela to the ground.

Hustler asked, "What just happened?"

Jinx added, "Somebody offed Light before she could tell us something."

Ravager then said, "And whatever it is, it is not good at all."


	2. Investigation

After Angela Light was immediately shot during her interrogation after being caught by the Titans Central, Raven and her team quickly began work on processing the crime scene. Hustler pulled the bullet that impacted Light's head out of the corpse to examine it.

He said to Raven, "We got the bullet, boss. It's a high-caliber point four oh eight bullet. We're looking for a Cheyenne M-2000 Intervention."

Ravager added, "And we're looking for a sniper, an obviously well-equipped one. Look around, boss. What do you notice about this place that strikes you as odd?"

Raven took another look at the building where they had fought Angela Light, seeing that there were no windows where the bullet impacted.

Raven concluded, "We are looking for one who has X-Ray vision, or an X-ray scope. It would be the only way they could have penetrated the wall and saw where she was. Based on the weapon's range and power, we are looking for a building around a mile away from here, one that overlooks this building. Flash, find it. The shooting location."

Kid Flash replied, "Will do boss." He zipped out of the building they were in, trying to find the possible location of their sniper. A few minutes later, Raven got a call on her communicator from Kid Flash.

She asked, "Got something?"

Over the communicator, he said "Walker Skyscraper. Forty-seventh floor. That's where our sniper was."

With that, Raven said "Finish up here. I'll be with Kid Flash" before surrounding herself in white soul-self and bringing herself to the sniper's suspected location.

* * *

Raven's soul-self brought her over to the Walker Skyscraper, which was one of the tallest buildings in the city - one that had been abandoned for a decade ever since the place was shut down for health violations and the owners couldn't afford to fix them.

Raven met up with Kid Flash, who was standing next to a shattered window, one that seemed to be more recent. Raven asked, "A little quiz, Kid. Tell me why our sniper was here."

Kid Flash said, "Well, first I found the shell casing at the window. It's the same caliber as the bullet that went into Light" as he points at the bullet casing on the ground.

A skeptical Raven comments, "Okay, but what makes you think this was where the shot was fired? Couldn't the shooter have shot somewhere else and left the bullet here?"

"Based on the design of the building and the durability of the floors, there is no chance that the bullet could have fallen from another story. And seeing how I found the bullet minutes after firing, they would have to been really fast to have moved it."

"And my senses say that there has been no teleportation to this building during the past week, or from it. The shooter must have manually came in. Any more, Kid?"

"The window. It was shattered. Two days ago on my patrol, I saw that this window was still intact and the damage patterns indicate that it was broken by a bullet, a high-caliber one."

"So our shooter was not prone, they were standing based on the center of the damage when the bullet fired. Get the camera logs for this building over the past twenty-four hours. Maybe we can spot our shooter."

"How did I do, boss?"

"You passed."

* * *

Back at Titans Tower, the Titans were investigating the murder of Angela Light. A picture of their victim appeared on the main ops screen as Jinx filled in Raven about her.

Jinx spoke, "Doctor Angela Light, born Angelica Morrow in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Went to college at Texas Tech where she met her professor of illumination studies, Arthur Light. Five years ago, Angelica joined her teacher in a life of crime, becoming his apprentice and designing his weapons as he taught her the secrets to controlling illumination. After Light was killed, Angelica renamed herself Doctor Angela Light and continued his string of thefts. About a year ago, she joined the PRA - the People's Redemption Army, a homegrown militia movement to redeem the actions of the United States - the atrocities it committed in their eyes. No arrests but warrants have been issued for it."

Raven replied, "I'm willing to bet that the PRA wanted to keep Angela silenced about what they were doing next. No arrests have been made on them because they have yet to break the law - everything they do is legal by the Constitution."

Hustler and Kid Flash came into the room. Hustler said, "We have a possible match on the Intervention used to kill Light. In the past two years, only three Intervention rifles have been sold in Jump City."

Kid Flash continued, "The first two both have iron-clad alibis for the murder, so that leaves a Colin Vance. He lives at 4983 Boulgarden Way in Harlow Town." Harlow Town was one of the twenty four communities that surrounded Jump City, which ultimately expanded the twenty-mile city up to thirty-one miles.

Raven engulfed herself in soul-self as she flew out to investigate Colin Vance, hoping to see if he was there and if his Intervention was. She slipped into his house and searched through, looking for her suspect. She hoped she could find him, and after looking through his entire house, Raven found Vance in the basement armory, or what was left of him. The older bald and shaved man with a slightly tanned skin was laying down on his basement floor completely dead.

Raven saw that Vance's thighs had been smashed with a blunt object and there were three bullet holes - two in his chest and one right between his eyes. While investigating the body, Raven got the sense that she was not alone.

She was right, as she found an unknown figure wearing all black behind her, and who was holding a Beretta M9 Inox. The figure fired three rounds at her, but she blocked them with a quick-formed shield. The shooter quickly fired eight more rounds as he quickly fled the scene.

Raven went after him, trying to latch onto him with her soul self but he suddenly vanished before Raven could grab him. Based on the mystic signatures that she was sensing, the person that was inside of the house was a teleporter, and a meta-human.

Raven pulled out her communicator and called the team. Ravager answered, "What is it boss?"

Raven replied, "Colin Vance is dead. I think we may be looking for a meta-human teleporter. He fired off rounds at me before escaping. I'm guessing he didn't know who I was."

Kid Flash and Ravager rushed over to the scene, Ravager holding a medical examiner's kit. She pulled out a thermometer (also known as a liver probe) and measured the temperature in the room before inserting the thermometer into Vance's liver to check the temperature. Subtracting the two would give a tentative time of death, which they would need to determine if Vance was killed before or after Light's murder.

Ravager said, "Vance has been dead for at least ten hours. Six hours before Light's death. No way he could have shot Light."

Kid Flash then pointed out, "Raven, I think more than his life was taken."

Suddenly, a major realization dawned on Raven. The armory in the basement was completely empty and Raven could tell that the racks were completely full hours earlier.

Ravager then added, "Cause of death was blood loss from the first two gunshots and the hip smashing. It was ultimately the hip smash that finished off Vance. The headshot was made post-mortem, about twenty minutes later, to ensure that Vance remained dead."

Raven asked, "Why would someone smash in his hips? To ensure he couldn't flee. I'm guessing that whoever killed Vance wanted him to suffer dearly before he died."

Kid Flash then came out, holding a sledge hammer covered in blood, saying "I think I found what was used for the attack on his hips. Sledge hammer is covered in Vance's blood."

Raven then said, "Bring the body back to the Tower. Something is going on. Really big and we need to figure out what it is."

* * *

Jinx then proceeded to fill in Raven on their new victim - Colin Vance. She started, "Colin Vance was a private military contractor, having served for five years in Iraq and Iran before going to the private sector. Most of his work took place in Mexico where he pursued the Gravita drug cartel for seven years. About three years ago, he joined the People's Redemption Army. You might not believe this, Rae. He was the third-in-command, behind two unnamed people known as 'Black Bear' and 'Fox'. We found his PRA badge in his bedroom named 'Cobra' and matched it up to the official website. Only the leadership, say the top ten members of the PRA have these cover names."

Raven finished her with, "To keep themselves out of prison while their soldiers would be arrested if not killed. This movement is definitely not one to be taken lightly. We first have to get inside of it."

Hustler came in with, "That won't be easy. They have full-on information, fingerprints, facial recognition, dental records, everything they need to know or anything that can be used to identify somebody. If any of us go undercover, they would certainly know who we are. And if someone was caught undercover in the movement, they would draw more to their cause. And we haven't the slightest clue of their goals yet. Nor do we know where the heck they meet. The card we found in Vance's bedroom simply says at God's door we meet."

Raven simply added, "So we wait. We need to keep an eye out for the PRA, and hopefully they won't act. If they do, we will be there to stop them. Hustler, begin checking out places that have any common link, relationship, or meaning as _'God's door'._"

Suddenly, Ravager rushed in holding a fairly long sheet of paper, saying "I checked Vance's purchasing history and firearm permits. He owned a ton of weapons that are all now missing from his basement, along with the ammunition stores there as well. Including the Intervention, he owned a bunch of Mossberg 500 shotguns, a number of Colt Carbine rifles, some Winchester Model 70 hunting rifles, a Barrett M82 sniper rifle, two anti-tank cannons, five RPGs, a box of Claymore mines, and close to sixty Taurus PT99 handguns, all with the ammunition needed to load into them. This guy was well-armed, like he was preparing for Armageddon."

Kid Flash added in, "Or for war."

Jinx added, "Figures given he's a freaking military contractor. And now his killer has all of these weapons."

Ravager then continued, "We also checked the serial numbers of these weapons. His Intervention definitely killed Angela Light, and some of his other weapons are suspected of committing at least forty-seven murders across the entire West Coast over the past two years. This means that he's been loaning his weapons to the PRA for quite some time as his alibi checks out for at least twenty of them, but we can confirm he killed at least three of the forty-seven. Officer Devon Fitzgerald in Salem, Oregon seventeen months ago with the Model 70. Luther Moss, a Santa Maria cook, eleven months ago, with a PT99. And lastly, Geraldine Thale, an Olympia park guide, nine months ago, with a Mossberg. These are violent killings but none of them are connected. No common weapon, no pattern, no modus operandi."

Raven then interjected, "Check out the victims. Of Vance's murders and of the other forty-four plus killed by his weapons. If we find a common connection, we might be able to figure out what the PRA wants from them. Get to it."

* * *

A few hours later, Raven was beginning a chat with the Titans Tango team set up in Senegal. She began the conference and Bumblebee came up onto the screen.

Bumblebee asked, "Hey, Raven. What's up?"

Raven then replied, "We're dealing with a radical movement known as the PRA."

Bumblebee then commented, "The People's Redemption Army?"

Raven asked, "How did you know, Bumblebee?"

She responded to Raven, "We found weapons stores in the city that were being smuggled to a base in Jump City for the PRA. We intercepted the weapons but it looks like all of the workers are dead."

"What did you find, Bee?"

"At least seventy crates. Automatic shotguns, assault rifles, grenade launchers, surface-to-air missiles, hand grenades, sniper rifles, machine guns, pistols, mines, anti-tank weaponry, ammunition, body armor, and so much more. It's like these people are prepping for war."

"They are. A weapon storage was stolen this morning from a Colin Vance."

"Vance? We found his name on the lease of the weapons."

"Well you won't be able to question him. Someone killed him sixteen hours ago for his weapons. He was the PRA's number three man. That leaves us with a very big question - who are the top two guys?"

"I'm having Gizmo run records of the PRA and of Vance. Hopefully we might be able to find a location to make a bust. We also found a map indicating a trading route. These guns weren't from Senegal. They were from Pakistan. The workers in Senegal were trading precious stones for the weapons and then selling them to the PRA. Been going on for at least a decade."

"The PRA has been around that long? We just found out about them today."

Then, Gizmo came on the screen.

"Giz, Raven's on the chat. Tell her what you found."

With that, Gizmo sat down and began to talk with Raven. He started, "Raven, we traced the serial numbers to a Jihad group in Pakistan. We also found they had a crap load of guns and weapon factories. They're not just taking guns, they're making them. And these weapons have caused a lot of destruction - at least one thousand deaths in the past decade alone in the United States with nearly as many wounded."

Raven asked, "Gizmo, do you have a location of the group?"

"A mountain in southwestern Pakistan. I'm sending you the coordinates now."

"Thanks, Gizmo. I'll send the Titans West to intercept and destroy."

With that, the feed was cut as Raven began making a call to the Titans West. Argent answered quickly, asking "Raven, what is it?"

Raven replied, "I got a mission for you. I'm sending you the coordinates of your destination. Southwest Pakistan."

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"A gun factory. Jihad group trading guns for jewels. Take out the factory and capture the leader. I need information on who is buying the guns. It may lead us to a group known as the People's Redemption Army."

"I'll tell the others. We won't let you down."

"I know you won't."

Argent hung up and Raven proceeded to head to her bedroom, it having been a very long day - first with Angela Light, then the long investigation into her, Colin Vance, and the People's Redemption Army.

Before she could get in, Kid Flash came in front of her. He said, "Boss, we've connected the victims. All forty-seven were well-known opponents of the PRA. Their deaths were done to oppose the opposition to the PRA and force more people under their wing. We also found that the permits were forgeries - the weapons weren't from the States."

Raven added, "They were from Pakistan. Bumblebee informed me. I sent Titans West to take out the factory. The PRA was buying the guns from Senegal after they were first traded for precious stones in Pakistan."

"Why all that way if they could just buy from the dealer and cut out the middleman?"

"Passing through Senegal would enable them to hide the true origin of the weapons, as if the United States government caught wind of the Pakistani origins, the PRA would be in much bigger trouble and the heat would be on them. Plus, they could lie about the contents and it wouldn't be checked. If it were from Pakistan, the crates would be checked and the weapons revealed. It's all business, Kid. Now I need you to check the permits - who approved them?"

Kid Flash pulled out a sheet with a relatively familiar face before giving it to Raven. "Stanley Ryan. The very man who opposed giving us the permit to build Titans Tower here. Coincidence, I think not."

"Bank statements?"

"They're included. Ryan has been getting payments of roughly seven hundred thousand dollars every time he signed a fake permit. This has been going on for a few years now, around the time Vance joined the PRA. The money was wired from a Swiss bank account after being wired from a bank account set up in Zandia. We've been trying to break through the account, but there are a number of firewalls blocking access. It appears whoever has their money invested in this does not want to know who they are."

"Good work, Kid. Tell Hustler that we're going to see Mr. Ryan tomorrow and make sure to bring the briefcase. He'll know which one I mean."

"No problem." Kid Flash sped off to tell Hustler about Raven's plans for tomorrow.

After that, Raven went into her room and took off her cloak, belt, and boots, leaving her just in her leotard. She then proceeded to meditate for a couple of minutes, calmly saying "Azarath, metrion, zinthos" to keep herself in check. Tomorrow was not going to be a good day - having to talk with one of the people she hated most on Earth that was still alive. She then fell asleep in her bed, exhausted by what happened today and not wanting to deal with what is going to happen tomorrow.


	3. Deals

**Author's Notes**

To ROCKCHIC179, if there is a romance for Raven, it will most likely be with Hustler (aka Red-X aka Grant Wilson). Other couplings in this story will be Kid Flash-Jinx, Beast Boy-Terra, Jericho-Kole, Argent-Hot Spot, Cyborg-Bumblebee, and Pantha-Wildebeest.

To everlostneverfound, Ravager and Hustler both have some trauma from being dead, and that is definitely playing into their personalities a bit - they are less likely to kill, knowing how death feels. You'll see some of the consequences of the effects of their deaths later on in the story.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

Raven and Hustler were currently waiting in the lobby for their meeting with Stanley Ryan, whom they had linked to giving counterfeit permits for Colin Vance to smuggle in Pakistani arms for the People's Redemption Army. Currently, Raven's appearance had been altered so she had brown hair, blue eyes, a normal skin tone, and was currently wearing a long black dress and short heels. Hustler, who was holding a mysterious briefcase, was looking like normal - except he had black hair instead of his traditional brown, and was wearing a blue suit.

Then, Ryan's secretary came out and said, "Mister and Mrs. Lambert, Mr. Ryan will see you now."

To get the meeting, first they looked at Ryan's appointment schedule and found he had one appointment that day - with the Lamberts. As a result, they called the Lamberts, and with Jinx posing as Ryan's secretary, the Lamberts were informed their appointment had been postponed. Then, Raven and Hustler changed their appearances so that it would match up with the real Lamberts.

Raven and Hustler came into Ryan's office, and Stanley Ryan, a balding middle-aged man with white skin and green eyes who was currently wearing a brown suit was inside.

Ryan said, "Sit down, Janet and Vincent."

Knowing that Ryan was referring to them - still in disguise as the Lamberts, Raven and Hustler sat down in front of Ryan's desk.

Ryan asked, "So, Janet, Vince, what are we here to talk about?"

Shortly afterwards, Hustler (in disguise as Vincent Lambert), walked up to the door and closed it before locking it.

Raven then went up to Ryan and pushed him into a wall. She said (in her normal voice), "Hello, Mister Ryan."

Ryan stuttered out, "Raven. Should have realized it. Janet never wears black. Why are you here, Raven, Hustler?" After that, Hustler presses a button on the suitcase that changes their appearances to normal (well, their faces - their clothing stays the same).

Raven replied, "We know about the falsified permits you gave to Colin Vance."

Ryan defiantly said, "You don't know shit. You Titans think you're so high and mighty. Well, you are dumb assuming that I committed a crime. I'm clean as can be."

Raven then threw him down onto the table causing him to fall off of it. Then, she slides a piece of paper onto the table. Ryan gets up and looks at the paper with intensive eyes.

Raven then said, "We found your bank history. Every time you signed Colin Vance a permit, you got paid a whopping seven hundred thousand dollars. And we also found that you were signing for weapons that could take down tanks and helicopters, army-grade weapons that shouldn't be in civilian hands. Why'd you sign the permits for Vance?"

Ryan replied, "Vance was an old friend of mine. We went back to college. He needed me to sign the permits, saying that he needed to get some things from out-of-country. The weapons were a cover."

Raven then stated, "Did you know that the weapons he signed permits for were a cover so he could bring in Pakistani weapons? The Titans are expanding, so we could find the weapons came from Pakistan after passing through Senegal."

Ryan began to grow angry before barking at Raven, "You know nothing. The People's Redemption Army will not stand to be scrutinized."

Hustler then commented, "So you are a member, Stan. What rank are you first, fifth? We know that Vance was third before someone killed him and stole all of the weapons in his house."

Raven then brought his face closer to her own before coldly saying, "We have you on falsifying permits and a lot of counts of being an accessory to illegal arms possession. I'd say you will be losing your job as a council member and face maybe fifteen years in prison. But, if you would give us information on the PRA, and it better be good information, we might be able to lighten your sentence. However, you will be losing your job. That is guaranteed because of your falsified permits."

Ryan then answered, "Only the top two guys of the PRA know the identities of everybody in the group. I am technically not part of the PRA, just a liason, a spy for them on the city. The more they know and the farther they progress, the more they pay me."

Raven then asked, "How do you get the PRA the information you acquire?"

Ryan responded, "I send it once a week to a farmhouse just outside of Jump. Ninety-Four Lord's Porter Way. Somebody is always there to meet me, wearing a blue gorilla mask and a deep red cloak. My next meeting with them is tomorrow night."

Hustler then said, "We'll be there. Don't leave town. Every move you make we watch now."

* * *

In southwestern Pakistan, Argent and her Titans West team were preparing for their operation to take down the gun factory and the Jihad group that runs it, as well as capture the head of the operation for interrogation.

Thunder and Lightning were able to use their abilities to mimic a storm while also being able to survey the base. They found that the Jihad group numbered north of five hundred total members, including at least ninety women and two-hundred children. Only about eighty of the total members were actual warriors, armed with AK-104 assault rifles and patrolling the entire perimeter.

The factory was constantly surrounded by at least two dozen guards while the leader's base had at least fifteen guards and had both a floor above and a floor below ground. It was clear that the Jihad were prepared for any intruders, and the small stone huts were placed to prevent invaders from getting in without killing civilians.

Argent asked Thunder and Lightning upon finishing surveillance, "Report. What are we up against?"

Lightning replied, "At least eighty soldiers wielding guns. Using civilian lodging as cover. The factory has at least two dozen guards and the only way in or out is through a tunnel beneath the ground. It's the only way around the base. They live underground. All the doors are just for show."

Hot Spot then asked, "But that cannot possibly be the only way in or out of the base. They would have to have an entrance to the surface, wouldn't they? How do the guards get out in the first place?"

Argent added, "You're right, Isaiah. If we find that entrance, we might be able to sneak in. I can't drill beneath the base without risking causing collateral damage. And we cannot allow collateral damage. Thunder, Lightning, find the entrance."

Thunder said, "On it" and the brothers were off looking for the way into the Jihad base.

They came back a few minutes later and Lightning said, "We found the entrance. Two hundred degrees around. It's operated by an opening mechanism on the other side of the wall."

Shortly afterwards, Argent took her Titans West team over to the entrance, finding it to be a massive steel door, at least ten feet tall and four feet wide.

Argent commanded, "Hot Spot, get us in."

With that, Hot Spot activated his "hot" state and proceeded to burn a hole into the door around seven feet tall and three feet wide. With the hole cut, Argent began to lead her team in before guards found them and opened fire with their AK-104 rifles.

Argent quickly created a barrier to block the incoming fire as they emptied their magazines into it, trying to kill the intruders without success. When their guns clicked empty, Argent smashed the barrier into them, knocking the four guards down.

Bushido then took the lead, seeing two more guards headed their way. He used his sword to chop the barrels off of both weapons before delivering a powerful knee to the head that knocked them out.

Bushido quietly muttered, "All clear. Move out."

With that, Argent, Hot Spot, Thunder, and Lightning moved up towards Bushido and continued down the long corridor towards the inner hub of the base.

As they continued down the base, Argent's T-communicator was gaining schematics of the base, comparing the exterior to the interior and mapping out the locations. Argent gave silent thanks to Cyborg as they reached the center.

Unfortunately, about six guards quickly came in to attack them, all ready to fire. Thunder and Lightning both used their respective bolts of sound and light to take the six down, knocking them out.

Argent said, "Hot Spot, you're with Thunder. Go down the far left corridor and reach the weapons factory. Take down the guards and blow the bloody place to hell. Lightning, Bushido, on me. We're going for the leader. Down one of the right corridors. Titans go."

With that, Thunder and Hot Spot continued on their way towards the weapons factory, taking the far left corridor. While there was very little light, Hot Spot's glowing "hot" form enabled the two of them to see their way incredibly well. According to Argent's schematics, the factory was about sixty meters straight and they headed on their way.

Argent, Lightning, and Bushido made their way towards the base of the Jihad group's leader, with Lightning creating a small lightning bolt to provide light. The base was about seventy meters ahead of them, and was three stories tall.

After a couple minutes of walking, Hot Spot and Thunder reached the staircase up to the weapons factory. With Hot Spot noticing there was a thick layer of gunpowder and oil on the staircases, he reverted back to human form in order to avoid setting it off. He didn't need a needless explosion taking out everybody there. Thunder led and the two reached the factory, where they saw dozens of women and children on an assembly line building weapons.

They thought that the treatment of the women and children in the factory was almost inhumane, how the guards inside were beating them up, they weren't allowed to leave, and the bodies of resistant workers lay all over the ground, many decomposed. Scratch that, the treatment the workers were getting was beyond inhumane - there isn't a word that can describe just how god awful it is.

Thunder quietly asked Hot Spot, "Ready?" Hot Spot nodded yes as Thunder sent a bolt of thunder at two guards bringing a woman towards her death, saving the woman. More guards came out to deal with the intruder, but Thunder continually sent them back, causing them to impact the walls and sending them away from the children and women.

More guards open fire on Thunder, but he dodged them remarkably well and sent more thunder that blasted away the guards from their non-combatant shields. Another thunderbolt then took down the conveyor belt of death and weapons.

While alerts had obviously been sent to the guards on the outside, they were unable to get inside in time to do anything to help. There were no doors anywhere outside and the guards lacked explosives (or anything strong for that matter) to bust it down and get inside. Bullets were essentially useless as the walls were armored. The security measures taken by the base were its own downfall.

With the last of the guards down, Hot Spot and Thunder told the women and children to flee back to the huts, which they did to keep away from the factory as they intend to destroy the factory completely.

Hot Spot then turned back into his "hot" form and began igniting the weapons on the table and the ammunition around, which began creating a massive blaze. All of the Jihad weapons were going up in smoke as the walls and floor of the factory soon joined the flame, as well as the unconscious (if not, dead) guards. Before going on the mission, Argent had been contacted by the US military and ordered her and her team to use "extreme prejudice".

What they did was in their eyes unforgivable but they didn't have much of a choice if they wanted to take down the weapons and save the innocents building them. With their mission done, Hot Spot and Thunder left the factory, intending to meet back up with Argent, Bushido, and Lightning.

Speaking of the trio, they quickly arrived at the head of the Jihad group's base. There were two guards on the lowest floor, along with at least a dozen females ranging from the ages of fourteen to forty with cloth bindings surrounding their hands, legs, mouths, and eyes. Their squirming made Argent realize just what horror the group's leader is doing.

Bushido grabbed two shuriken out of a shirt pocket and quickly threw them at the guards inside, taking them out. Argent used her crimson constructs to quickly destroy the bindings on all of the women and they got up, albeit in pain because of how long they were seated and the torture they had endured.

The three of them continued onto the next floor where they spotted roughly a dozen guards all armed with assault rifles. Lightning conducted several bolts of his namesake and sent them right at the guards, blasting them unconscious into the walls.

Before they could advance, they were met with assault rifle fire from the floor above them, trying to halt them from reaching the top. Argent used a crimson construct to block the incoming fire, enabling the Titans to get through and reach the top floor.

There were four guards plus a fairly frail young man on top. The guards had assault rifles but the young man had a Micro Uzi and they all opened fire on the Titans.

Argent's crimson constructs came to great use blocking the bullets as Bushido slipped beneath them and sliced the weapons apart. Argent knocked the remaining guards out as Bushido put his katana up to the young man's throat.

Bushido told Argent, "We got the leader. Hoshen Marhaf."

* * *

Back at Titans Tower in Jump City, Raven and Ravager were going over surveillance footage at 94 Lord Porter's Way - the location Ryan gave them at the meeting. They quickly deduced that the address was what "at god's door" meant. They found Ryan handing over a lot of flash drives to the figure on the screen. Question was, who was it.

After acquiring an approximate height and weight along with some physical attributes on him (such as a rake birthmark on his lower left leg and a small scar on his chin), they began running a check to see who the man was.

A few minutes later, they got the identity of the man Ryan was meeting - Patrick Youngblood, a former Navy petty officer who was discharged for drug use. Kid Flash did a scan of the city but they found that Youngblood had no address to be found at - none in over four years since he was discharged. They were dealing with the underground while investigating the People's Redemption Army.

Shortly afterwards, they got a video call from Argent in southwestern Pakistan. Raven answered and Argent began speaking, "Hello, Raven. We took down the Jihad base. I'd like you to meet one Hoshen Marhaf" as Argent held the leader in a chair all tied up. She moved away from him to give Raven room to question him.

Raven said, "Hoshen Marhaf. Son of a Pakistani crime boss, providing black market goods for the Pakistani Army. When you were seventeen, your father was found out and executed on the spot. You went underground and raised a force of radical Pakistani who wanted to make a number of major changes to the government, one of your choosing. And you quickly made a lot of weapons after stealing some from the Army base and acquiring the blueprints to build your own."

Marhaf spat at Raven, "Go to hell."

Raven dryly added, "I am one of the demon lords now. Came with the destruction of my father, Trigon, or as you may know him, Skaath."

Marshaf was obviously quaking in his boots (figuratively as he did not have any footwear).

Raven then said, "Now we're getting somewhere. Tell me Hoshen, who have you been selling your weapons to? The United States government has a kill-capture order on your head. And knowing your philosophy, death is the ultimate punishment. If you tell me what I want to know, I will send you to Guantanamo Bay to spend the rest of your days. If you don't, you'll have a little accident with your gun and be sent right to me in hell. What will it be Hoshen?"

Marshaf responded quickly, "I don't remember his name or face, but I did sign an agreement with him to give me precious stones in exchange for my weapons. His carriers pick it up every four days and leave me with the stones. The agreement we signed is in my desk. It is his thumb in blood next to my thumb in black ink."

Argent walked up to the small desk in the corner of the room and quickly found the agreement signed by Marshaf. Argent said, "Come get it Raven."

The agreement was engulfed in black energy before winding up in Raven's hands back in Jump City.

Raven said, "Already did. Bye, Argent. Make sure to send our friend here to Guantanamo for all the shit he's done here."

Argent waved goodbye and the feed was cut, leaving the Titans Central to figure out who Marshaf was dealing with.

After getting the fingerprint, Ravager ran it through a global database to see if there were any matches, but they knew that since the agreement was signed two years ago, they had no idea if the person was still alive.

Six hours later, the team finally got a match on the fingerprint, which had no face but it did have a name. Jinx commented, "Raza Ghoul. Pretty bad name. Who is named that?"

Raven began thinking the name through in her head. _Raza Ghoul. Ra Za Ghoul. Ra sa Ghoul._

Raven at last shouted out, "I know who made the agreement. I know who Raza Ghoul is."

Hustler asked, "Who, then boss?"

Raven coldly said so all in the room could hear, "Ra's al Ghul."


	4. Shadow

**Author's Notes**

To ROCKCHIC179, Raven is certainly capable of more than she seems, especially physically. I also chose to give a significant portion of last chapter to Argent's team to show that this won't be focused on just one team.

To everlostneverfound, there may be elements that correspond to the comics and some that don't, but I do try to explain elements from the comics that aren't in the series in the story - and I guarantee that there will be several characters from the comics that did not make it into the series that will be in this story.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

After realizing that Ra's al Ghul had signed the agreement between the Jihad group and the PRA through the Senegalese, Raven knew that her team needed to find the immortal criminal mastermind if they wanted to get more information on the People's Redemption Army.

Raven then decided to begin a call through the main ops room that patched her in to the Batcave. After a few seconds of ringing, Batman answered the line with, "Who is this?"

Raven responded, "Raven. Of the Titans Central."

Batman commented, "Raven, why are you calling now? Any troubles we need to know about?"

After briefly rolling her eyes, she added, "We're looking for somebody and I figured you would be the person most likely to know where to find them."

Batman asked, "Who?"

Raven replied, "Ra's al Ghul. We believe he is responsible for smuggling Pakistani arms into America for a movement known as the PRA that has already killed two people yesterday and dozens more in the past few years."

Batman began typing on the Bat-computer to see if there were any known locations he could send to Raven - Ra's was both highly dangerous and very impersonal, generally staying underground until his League of Assassins had something to do in the world.

After a few minutes, Batman told Raven, "We have a suspected location. It's a temple outside of Calcutta, India. That's where we presume the gates to the Lazarus Pit are. If you find him, don't underestimate him or his men. They are all trained to kill, and they do not take kindly to intruders."

Raven finished with, "Thanks, Batman" before cutting the feed. She addressed the other Titans and said, "You might want to prepare yourselves for a fight. The League of Assassins are dangerous and well-trained. Grant, I suggest you bring some stun grenades and flares. Rose, bring extra swords and armor. Wally, I suggest you take the prototype suit Cyborg designed for you. It will come in handy in this fight. Nirupama, make sure you are extra nimble and ready to move. We move out in an hour."

* * *

An hour later, the Titans had finished preparing for their mission to the Lazarus Pit. Hustler had brought with him six stun grenades, a flare launcher with four flares, and five smoke bombs. Ravager, in addition to the two katanas she kept with her, she added four throwing knifes - two on her legs and two in her sleeves plus a kukri, cutlass, and two retractable hunting knives on her belt, plus two boots both equipped with a snap-out blade. Kid Flash wore instead of his normal red and yellow uniform, a dark orange uniform with customized padding designed in order to take more hits while running and increase his speed.

Once Jinx came out, ready to fight and acrobatic as ever, Raven engulfed them into her soul-self and took them to Calcutta, India.

After landing, they began looking for the temple suspected of leading to the Lazarus Pit, but they were soon surrounded by a lot of temples. It may take them forever to find the right one, and if Ra's knew they were looking for him, he'd move away and render the whole thing naught.

Before they had to look too far, Jinx said, "I found the right temple. The Temple of Shadow, as the name translates."

A skeptical Hustler asked, "And you're sure of this because?"

Raven answered, "Because Jinx is from this region, Bangladesh actually, and her parents spoke Hindi. Plus, the League of Assassins also went by the name League of Shadows. There's the temple Ra's should be hiding in. Let's go."

The five Titans arrived at the Temple of Shadow, which had engravings in the walls to represent shadows and the darkness they cover, and headed inside. The door was locked, to keep out intruders, plus a ward to prevent teleportation, but Kid Flash decided to use his super-speed to vibrate through the doors to get in.

Before he could, Raven stopped him and said, "The walls aren't blocking my empathy. I need to check to see if there's anybody on the other side."

Raven went up to the door and activated her empathy sense to go through the door and see if anybody was waiting for them. She checked the entire lower floor, and fortunately for them, there was nobody waiting for them.

Raven gave the thumbs up to Kid Flash and backed away, as he vibrated up to the door and went right through, unlocking the door on the other side. Kid said, "Come on in."

With that, the other four Titans quietly moved into the temple, looking for the way to the Lazarus Pit and Ra's al Ghul. While there were a lot of guards in the temple, they were able to keep themselves from being noticed - Hustler and Ravager having been trained to be silent, Raven levitating, Jinx using quiet acrobatics, and Kid Flash just fast walking.

If Raven had to give Ra's credit for something, it would be the intricately designed temple that certainly threw off her empathy to finding him. Ra's was definitely a private person but if the Titans were to crack the People's Redemption Army, they would need to break down that privacy. Batman knew where Ra's was, but they made an agreement four years earlier when Ra's tried to blow up Gotham after Batman found Ra's base - Ra's would stay out of the United States along with the League of Assassins if Batman never went to the Lazarus Pits.

And for the past four years the deal has remained, Ra's has not attacked anywhere in the US and nobody has tried to take him down. The Titans weren't trying to take him down - they just needed to ask him questions.

After close to an hour of walking around the temple, which resembled more and more like a maze, the Titans finally found the passageway to the Lazarus Pit. Raven opened the door and instantly the five Titans were sucked into the door before heading straight into a large cave.

* * *

The five Titans arrived at the cave containing the Lazarus Pit, but they were quickly surrounded by League of Assassins guards, which numbered close to three hundred. Ra's was really good at security.

One of the guards was yelling out something in a language most of the Titans did not understand. Jinx asked, "What is he saying?"

Raven answered, "He is trying to figure out why we are here. In Cantonese"

A second later, Raven stood up and said to the guard (in Cantonese), "We are here to speak with Ra's al Ghul. We have questions only he can answer."

The guard responded (in Cantonese), "Nobody speaks to Ra's al Ghul. If you must, leave your people out here and if he finds you acceptable, they will live."

Raven responded (in English), "Okay."

Hustler asked, "What the hell did that guard just say?"

Raven replied, "I have to speak with him alone. You guys stay out here. Try not to die."

Kid Flash then cried out, "What the hell do you mean not die?"

Before Kid Flash could get an answer, he soon realized why - the guards were all leveling their weapons towards the Titans, ready to engage in combat. The Titans were unsure if they could win this fight, but they had to have faith in Raven to prove herself to Ra's and for him to spare them.

Raven soon flew towards the Lazarus Pit where Ra's al Ghul was currently in, extending his immortality. The immortal mastermind had a gray goatee and brown hair on his head, but he was only wearing a towel, since he was literally inside of the Pit.

Raven arrived in the room with the Pit and greeted Ra's with, "Hello, Mr. Ducard. Or would you prefer Ra's al Ghul?"

Ra's al Ghul sensed Raven's arrival and awoke, now looking at his unexpected guest. He answered, "I prefer Ra's. Ducard is just an alias I use for recruiting more members."

Raven deadpanned, "Like you did with Bruce Wayne?"

Ra's asked, "Why are you here, Raven?"

"Hoshen Marhaf. You signed an agreement with him that you give him precious stones in exchange for his weapons, which you would smuggle through Senegal and send to the United States as support for the People's Redemption Army?"

"The People's Redemption Army?"

"That sounds like it surprises you. Have you never heard of them?"

"I founded it. About twenty-five hundred years ago. It started out in Greece, where I was trying to build a force that was willing to overthrow its government to redeem its members for the sins of the government. We sparked the Pelopponesian War and the collapse of the Greek Empire. It later grew into Rome with the barbarians that later sacked and destroyed the city. In every country in the world exists the PRA, even if it is in a small part."

"Did you sign the agreement with Marhaf? We have your fingerprint on the agreement in your blood."

"Raven, I did not sign the agreement. A hundred years ago, another man stepped into the PRA and took control, aiming to shift it into another direction - world conquest instead of redemption. They refused to acknowledge my reasons for forming it, and I left the PRA. I founded the League of Assassins some time later, with the intention of fulfilling the goals of my lost PRA and taking it down to prevent it becoming the corruption I designed it to destroy. And also my fingerprint could not possibly be on that document."

"What do you mean?"

"My fingerprint has a unique quality to it - whatever surface it touches, the print vanishes immediately after. There is no way you could have my print on the document."

"That explains the alias. Raza Ghoul. If it wasn't you, it was a shape-shifter. A metahuman."

"The PRA has expanded greatly, Raven. Far beyond just those seeking to redeem themselves for the corrupt actions of their government. It's the powerful, those who want to overthrow the government and take its place. It means nothing of the redemption - it is just a hoax. What is your interest in the PRA?"

"They were responsible for at least fifty deaths in the past few years across the West Coast of the United States."

"Tread carefully, Raven. The PRA are not to be underestimated. They meet in secrecy, gather equipment and weapons, map out strategies, and garner heavy recruitments. I'd estimate of the eight billion people on Earth today, one in twenty is associated with the People's Redemption Army."

"By the way, Ra's, who is the leader of the PRA?"

"He never revealed his name. He only said it to be Black Bear. One thing I know about this Black Bear is that he is immortal just as I am. And as you will be soon."

"What do you mean?"

"You are the Archfiend of Trigon's Infernal Province, which came from his destruction almost three years ago. You gained not only his powers but his realm and his fire demon army. And as a half-demon, you would soon become part of both worlds. When you turn twenty next month, you will have reached the peak of your age. You will remain ageless for as long as you exist on this world."

"How long would that be?"

"Possibly forever. You have two sides that need to be defeated - your demon side, which bears your powers and if it were removed, you would become an aging human, and your human side, your existence on the plane. If it were killed, you would be immediately forced to take your place in the Infernal Provinces as the Archfiend."

"Are you telling me that because of what I am, I will never grow old?"

"No. Unfortunately, everyone around you will. When the day comes, when there is nobody left for you to be around, I do suggest coming to me."

"Thanks for the offer, Ra's, but I'll pass on it. Anyway though, thanks for your information."

"No, Raven. Thank you for having your people give my warriors a work out. Your friends are all alive, but they are definitely exhausted. Until next time."

* * *

The Titans had soon started engaging the League of Assassins guards after Raven left to speak with Ra's al Ghul. There proved to be a lot of swordsmanship going on, with Ravager engaging a lot of them with her two katanas, throwing knives, and boot blades.

She threw her cutlass to Hustler and the kukri to Kid Flash. Jinx didn't need a sword for this fight, and even if she got one, her powers would almost certainly cause it to fall apart, rendering it useless - and then Jinx would have to pay Ravager for yet another piece of equipment she's accidentally destroyed.

Kid Flash, with his speed, was able to get close enough to engage the guards with the kukri, a close-combat blade Ravager acquired from a Georgian (the Georgia that formerly part of the USSR) warmonger five years earlier. He had only basic swordsmanship experience, which came entirely from dueling with Ravager, who was one of the best swashbucklers on the planet.

However, his basic experience combined with his powers enabled him to at least best some of the League's guards, sending them flat on their backs. Kid Flash dueled them with all of his effort, but not even he could avoid being completely surrounded by League guards, and something in his gut told him if he surrendered, he would die. So he did the only thing he could - keep fighting.

Hustler was using his stun grenades to distract the League guards, enabling him to get some distance between him and them and knock them down with a cutlass, a longer sword Ravager acquired a year ago from an antiquities dealer that was holding her captive in Santa Fe. Hustler had more experience than Kid Flash, but he was by no means an expert sword fighter. He could think of at least ten instances when he lost a sword fight to more experienced fighters, only to be saved by one of the Titans.

Hustler kept his distance from the guards but he soon ran out of stun grenades - having only room for the six stun grenades. He still had five smoke bombs and four flares, so he decided to use the smoke to blind the League guards and then fired the flares at several barrels of candle wax.

His strategy was a mild success, enabling him to knock out at least a dozen guards before he ran out of flares, and he only had one smoke bomb left as League guards converged on him, moving in for a kill.

Hustler threw the last smoke bomb onto the ground next to him, creating a smokescreen long enough for him to get away from the guards but he soon found himself engaged in combat again with the cutlass.

Jinx, without a sword, was forced to use her hexes, which worked to some effect, knocking the swords out of the hands of the guards and melting some of their armor. Unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect strategy as she was overwhelmed with guards and she couldn't get off hexes quick enough to force them back. Resorting to her acrobatic nimbleness, she kicked several in the head and was able to force several down by swinging her things around their necks.

She fired a hex at the cave ceiling, sending rocks down below at the League guards, which gave some room to breathe, but it wasn't enough to stop them. Jinx could only hope Raven was almost finished.

Ravager was proving her swordsmanship definitely rivaled the best on the Earth, as her dual katanas were knocking away dozens of League guards, unable to compare with her. While she was good with her katanas, resulting in an experience advantage, they had a numerical advantage and one of them managed to knock her katanas away from her.

Without her swords, Ravager threw the throwing knives from her sleeves that impacted two guards in the shoulder before pulling out the retractable hunting knives, crying out, "Bring it on."

With that, the sword fight continued as Ravager's smaller hunting knives were unable to effectively block away the larger swords heading her way. So, Ravager stuck the bottoms of her knives together to create a double-edged blade that she used to engage two guards at once, managing to effectively block them long enough so she could send in a roundhouse kick to send them back.

Gaining some free room, she threw one of the throwing knives from her legs, hitting one guard in the arm before the throwing the other knife into a guard's kneecap. With them away, Ravager grabbed one of her katanas and promptly re-engaged the guards with her sword and double knife.

After a few more minutes of fighting, the guards ultimately dispersed, much to the group's collective shock after spending at least fifteen minutes of fighting all of those guards.

They then saw why the guards dispersed - Raven had finished talking with Ra's al Ghul. Kid Flash asked, "So what did Ra's tell you?"

Raven responded, "That he founded the PRA but is no longer associated with it, and that we are dealing with a shapeshifter that posed as Ra's. Plus an immortal that is now in charge of the PRA, wanting to use it for world conquest instead of redemption."

Upon hearing that, Jinx cried out, "Shit. This became a whole lot worse."

Raven answered, "Yes, it has. Let's get back to the Tower. We've got a lot to do."

* * *

In Darko, California (about two miles away from Jump City, and one of the city's suburbs), fourteen year old girl Lilith Clay was walking home from Parkinson Middle School, of which she graduated a month ago and was now doing summer tutoring, thanks to her exceptional grades.

Lilith was wearing a light white coat with a pink dress and white heels and had long blonde hair and brown eyes. It was roughly five in the afternoon, with tutoring having run long today. She was fully intent on returning to her foster parents, as her real parents were unknown to her and gave her up for adoption when she was a child.

Lilith also had to deal with constant visions of the future she was receiving in her mind - those that were all scattered but all wound up having some degree of accuracy. Her classmates called her Omen because of her fortune-telling ability and her ability to predict things.

After arriving at her house, she was about to open the door when she sensed that somebody was inside, having killed her parents and was waiting for her. Lilith ran away, trying to avoid the assassin she realized was in her house.

She made it two blocks before someone grabbed her, putting his arm around her chest and applying chloroform to the girl's mouth, knocking her unconscious.


	5. Forest

**Author's Notes**

To everlostneverfound, Lilith Clay was a Teen Titan from the comic books, one that went by the codename Omen - in the comics, she proved useful in the defeat of Trigon in _Terror of Trigon_. She never made it to the TV series, though, and this is my interpretation of her - her kidnapping wasn't random, it did have a purpose, which you'll see within a few chapters. As for Kid Flash, remember _Lightspeed_, when Kid Flash was escaping from the HIVE base - that's where it came from. Remember, this story is hewing closer to the TV show than the comics, but elements from both will be present - I guarantee it.

To ROCKCHIC179, the main antagonist of the story will not be a Son of Trigon. In fact, the antagonist I plan on using, I am not even sure he has been a villain in any Teen Titans story I have read on this site. That also throws out Lex Luthor, if you were curious. As for the matter of Raven's immortality, I will address that fairly soon but Raven may not be alone through eternity.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

After returning to the Tower following their questioning of Ra's al Ghul, the Titans prepared to look for metahuman shapeshifters that could have impersonated Ra's al Ghul.

Before they could, however, Raven got a call from Jump City Dispatch, who said, "We got a double homicide in Darko, California. 328 Jarlon Way. We also have reason to believe that the deaths were used to stage a kidnapping."

Raven responded, "On it." With that, she teleported her team to 328 Jarlon Way to begin investigating this new crime scene. Something in Raven told her that this was connected to the PRA.

Hustler noted, "Bodies are Martin and Amanda Clay. Married, one child, Lilith. Cause of death to both was having their throat bashed in with a heavy blunt object", as he saw the massive amount of blood around their necks and on their chins and upper chest.

Kid Flash came in a second later, saying, "I think I found the murder weapon. Sledgehammer" as he pulled out a bloody sledgehammer. The exact same weapon used to bash in Vance's thighs.

Ravager theorized, "Same weapon as used in the Vance murder. Reason to believe same killer, boss?"

Raven responded, "Yes. I'm sensing teleportation energy was recently used. About half an hour ago. I'll investigate. Kid, Hustler, finish up the crime scene."

Raven walked outside where Jinx had finished with witness statements outside. Raven asked, "What do you got, Jinx?"

Jinx replied, "The neighbors claimed to not hear anybody come into the house, the door was locked and nobody came near it, except for Lilith, their daughter. About half an hour ago, they heard some slamming coming from into the house. They assumed it was the Clays doing renovation work. However, when Lilith came home, she immediately ran upon getting near the door. She made it two blocks, and then vanished."

Raven said, "So now we got a kidnapping. What would the PRA have to gain from kidnapping Lilith? The parents weren't very rich but killing them won't give them any ransom."

Jinx added, "Maybe Lilith knows something that they don't."

Raven then finished, "Lilith is a metahuman. Question is, what talent does she have? Run a full check on Lilith Clay. We need to find out before it's too late."

Raven levitated over to where Lilith was last seen, finding there was nobody there. Raven was immediately suspecting that the metahuman teleporter that murdered the Clays abducted Lilith. She smelled something peculiar and knew what it was - chloroform. Lilith was knocked out so she wouldn't provide any opposition.

She returned to the house where Hustler, Kid Flash, and Ravager were finishing processing the crime scene, looking for any hints that would lead them to the teleporter.

Hustler asked, "Do you know where they teleported the girl?"

Raven replied, "I got a small reading on the teleport. They went near Jump Forest. Hustler, Ravager, take the car and check it out."

Ravager responded, "On it boss."

With that, Hustler pressed a button on his sleeve and materializing in front of the Titans was the Titan's T-Z, a heavily modified SUV designed for Titans transport. Modeled heavily after Cyborg's T-Car, the T-Z had bulletproof glass and doors that could drop to the ground to provide more cover. It could seat up to seven people and had plenty of features for handling enemies on the road, such as laser cannons and oil slicks, plus an accelerator, not to mention an armory in the back.

Hustler and Ravager got into the car, with Ravager driving. Hustler asked, "Remind me why I am letting you drive my car."

Ravager responded, "It's not your car, it's the team's car. And you drove last time." Really, only Hustler and Ravager drove the T-Z. Raven found little to no use in driving, given her levitation and teleportation abilities, Kid Flash could go faster than the car (even with the accelerator on), and Jinx generally went with Kid Flash or Raven, because of her slight claustrophobia, plus she ran the risk of ruining the car with a hex. The interior was vulnerable, but the exterior had been lined with a ward so magic could not affect it. The T-Z was truly a car fit for a Titan.

As Ravager drove off with Hustler in the T-Z, Raven found herself getting a call on her T-communicator from an unknown source. Raven opened her communicator but only saw a message.

_Meet me at my office in Brussels. Five minutes. I have information on Lilith. -LJ_

Jinx asked, "Who sent you the message?"

Raven replied, "I'm not completely sure, but they want to meet. And they have information about our abducted. I have to go, Jinx. Finish up here and then return to the Tower with Kid Flash to process the evidence."

Jinx gave a salute to Raven as her soul-self engulfed her, ready to take her to meet her somewhat mysterious informer.

* * *

Brussels, Belgium. Raven quickly brought herself to the city in order to find the man who had information on their missing child, Lilith Clay. Raven found the office building, which didn't seem like much - maybe two stories tall but it was several stories deep - roughly twelve stories below ground.

The Belgians weren't too keen on having a tall skyscraper obstruct the more simplistic architecture of the city. Raven walked into the office of Sun Publishing and met with the secretary. The secretary asked her, "Name and purpose, please."

Raven replied, "Raven, and I have an appointment with your boss."

The secretary did some typing into the computer and after a few seconds, responded, "Miss Raven, you are expected. Take the elevator down to the second floor and he'll be with you."

Raven walked up to the elevator and pressed the "2" button inside, which then sent the elevator down from the "11" floor down to the second floor of the building, where Raven was meeting her mysterious contact.

After a few minutes of waiting in the elevator and getting tired of the elevator music playing inside, Raven got out of the elevator and went to meet her contact.

He said to Raven, "Hello, Raven. It's been a long time."

Raven greeted the man. "Loren Jupiter, our biggest supporter. You put up seventy percent of our expenses. For what reason did you call me here today? We're in the middle of an investigation."

Jupiter, a middle-aged man with a combed long brown mane and green eyes, began to speak with, "It's about your abducted girl."

Raven asked, "What do you know about Lilith Clay?"

Loren Jupiter meekly replied, "She is my daughter."

Raven then said, "Bullshit. You're lying."

Jupiter defended himself with, "I'm telling you the truth, Raven. About fifteen years ago, my wife Tali became pregnant but died in childbirth. I wasn't ready to become a father, Raven, so I gave her up for adoption and the Clays adopted her. I didn't want to be a bad father for her, and now she's gone."

Raven asked, "Why would they kidnap her, then? To extort money from you? Have they issued a demand?"

Jupiter responded, "Nobody knows that Lilith is my daughter. I used an anonymous name, Eric Britchard, to send in Lilith. They wanted her, whoever abducted her."

"What's so special about Lilith?"

"She's a metahuman. She has been gifted with precognition. She can literally see the future, but it is still unrefined. I was planning on asking you to try to teach her in the field."

"I'm not that good with predicting the future. Doctor Fate..."

Loren cut her off with, "...already turned my offer down. I need you to teach her to work her precognition, make it work for her."

Raven asked, "Do you know who wanted Lilith?"

Loren responded, "Nobody that I know of. Thank you for coming, Raven. Get my daughter back."

Raven countered, "I will, and be sure to change your elevator music. It sucks, to put it frankly."

With that, Raven went back over to the elevator and entered it, pressing the "2" button to bring her back up to the surface, so she can return to the Titans and inform them of what Loren Jupiter has told her.

* * *

Back in Jump City, Ravager and Hustler were driving towards the forest, intending on searching for where the PRA had taken Lilith, and hopefully finding who took her in the process. It wasn't much of a drive there, maybe ten to fifteen minutes, but there was a lot of forest to search and it was a very busy time for the forest, so the abductor could easily have gotten away with Lilith.

The siblings got out of their car when they were met with machine gun fire that sprayed the T-Z all over. Instantly, the T-Z activated its defense features, turning its two open doors into two armored shields that blocked the gunfire that hit them.

Ravager looked at the bullets and said, "Seven point six two by five one. NATO caliber round. Armor-piercing as well."

Hustler noted, "Good thing these doors are stronger than armor." Good thing indeed as the 7.62x51mm NATO rounds impacted all over the windshield and doors, preventing them from being gunned down by the machine gunner in the woods.

Hustler pressed a button on the car door and the car door behind him turned open to reveal a small cache of weapons - a Steyr TMP, a Heckler & Koch MP5KA4, a FN SCAR-L PDW, a Colt CM901, a SIG-Sauer P226, and an M40A3 sniper rifle.

Hustler grabbed the Colt CM901, which was fitted with an ACOG sight and an M320 grenade launcher while he sent the M40A3, fitted with a thermal optic over to Ravager.

If their training with their father Slade had taught them anything that could be useful in this fight - it was accuracy and making quick cover. Hustler sent out two bursts of 5.56x45mm rounds at the machine gunner. Based on the impacts, he could tell he hit wood.

Ravager was trying to use the thermal scope to detect where their machine gunner was - based on the range of the weapon and the damage, he was likely around six hundred meters away but he was heavily camoflauged. And the thermal scope was not getting through the camoflauge.

Ravager fired a shot at the ground and impacted a couple of leaves, but under the leaves, she saw a few spent rounds. Realizing that the sniper was nearby where she hit, Ravager chambered another round and scanned for a similar trail of bullets. Ravager told Hustler, "Keep him occupied."

Hustler replied, "Got it, Rose." With that, Hustler fired more rounds out the CM901 towards where he believed the shooter was, distracting him long enough so Ravager could begin to move in closer towards the machine gunner's position, putting the M40A3 on her back and pulling out the MP5KA4, fitted with a C-More sight.

Hustler soon ran out of ammunition in the CM901, but he still had the grenade launcher and he quickly sent a grenade towards the shooter's position. This, actually had some effect as the shooter was forced to abandon his FN MAG machine gun, and he quickly ran to try to get into a new position.

Unfortunately, while running, he soon encountered a three-round burst from Ravager's submachine gun that impacted him in the leg, causing him to fall onto the ground.

Ravager walked up to the bleeding shooter and then gun-butted him in the head, knocking him unconscious. After applying a bandage to the shooter's wound, Ravager then dragged him out of the forest, knowing that they were going to have to question him, once he came to.

Hustler asked, "You got the shooter."

Ravager replied, "Yeah. But he's not a teleporter. He'll still give us something we need. Maybe the location of Lilith."

* * *

Ravager and Hustler brought back the shooter to Titans Tower wearing handcuffs and a temporary power suppressor (in case he did have metahuman abilities, better safe than sorry).

In the main room, Jinx was running a DNA match on Loren Jupiter against Lilith Clay, whom they had gotten a DNA sample off of her books. After a few minutes, Jinx confirmed, "Loren's right. He is Lilith's father."

Raven then added, "So everything he said is true. Which makes finding her a much bigger priority. God knows what the People's Redemption Army wants to do with her."

Hustler and Ravager came in, with Hustler saying, "We went to the forest but someone ambushed us there. We got them in interrogation, boss."

Raven inquired, "Any trace on Lilith?"

Ravager despondently noted, "No. We ran a thermal scan but she wasn't there. No traces of teleportation energy inside the woods either. The PRA must be really good at hiding out."

Raven then noted, "It's our job to be the better seekers."

Ravager gave Jinx a copy of the shooter's fingerprints and Jinx ran them, trying to see who it was that tried to kill them. After a minute, Jinx got the name. Jinx said, "We have a winner. Meet Winston Sinclair. And look at the DNA."

Raven looked at the fingerprint as another case file came up with a fingerprint that was exactly like Sinclair's - a very recent case file. Raven said, "It looks like Sinclair killed Angela Light, but we're looking for someone else that killed Vance and the Clays. If you need me, I'll be interrogating our guest."

Raven quickly went down to the interrogation room to speak with Winston Sinclair, who had killed one person and tried to kill two more in the past day or so. Kid Flash got the video feed from the day Light was killed, and they confirmed Sinclair was in fact the shooter.

Raven sat down in front of Sinclair while Kid Flash, Jinx, and Ravager were watching in observation behind the two. Raven started, "Mr. Sinclair, we have you on murdering Angelica Morrow, now known as Angela Light, as well as trying to kill two of my team members. You have information that I want, and I expect you to give it to me."

Sinclair asked in a flat German accent, "What would I have to gain by telling you?"

Raven responded, "You would be facing life for homicide, but I can reduce the sentence. Or if you don't cooperate, I'll make it more severe."

Sinclair then said, "You don't scare me. But even if you put me away forever, there would be someone to find me. They can find anyone anywhere. I would be much less safe telling you about my employer than not telling you."

Raven assured Sinclair, "Your employer will not find you. I'll guarantee it. If you cooperate."

Sinclair promised, "Ask away and I'll answer."

Raven put a picture of Colin Vance on the table in front of Sinclair. She asked, "You know him?"

Sinclair responded, "Yes. He loaned me the rifle I used against Doctor Light. I was going to return it, but my employer said to keep the rifle I got. Why would he say that?"

Raven added, "Because Vance is dead. He died a few hours before you shot Angela Light. And how could you see Angela? There was no way to see inside."

"I have talents. I have improved sight, to the level of X-ray. Your power suppressor is making my sight normal, so I cannot see who you have behind the mirror. This isn't my first interrogation room."

"Do you know any teleporters or shape-shifters?"

"Patrick Youngblood. A shape-shifter. I don't know any teleporters."

"Can you tell me who your employer is?"

"He never told me his name. Like my colleagues, we know him only as Black Bear. From what I have seen in him, he has been a man shaped by violence, not onto himself, but onto others. A man who has lived for the longest time. An immortal man. A man of no face but of many faces."

"Thank you, Mister Sinclair."

With that, Raven left the interrogation room, now knowing that Youngblood most likely signed the agreement with Hoshen Marhaf in addition to meeting with Stanley Ryan.

Jinx came out of interrogation and asked, "So, do you believe our friend here?"

Raven replied, "Yes. Now we have something tonight. We need to get to Mr. Ryan's meeting and take Youngblood. He's our best lead to finding the PRA. And Lilith."

Jinx asked, "How are we going to do that, boss?"

Raven answered, "I need to talk with Starfire."

Raven grabbed her T-communicator and dialed in the number for Starfire. After a short ring, Starfire answered with, "Hello, friend Raven. What a joyous day. What is the purpose of your call?"

Raven said, "Star, I'm going to need to borrow Jericho for an op tonight. We need his talents to help take down a shapeshifter with connections to a radical political movement."

Starfire said, "Okay. I will try to get Jericho, but he is very attached to Friend Kole. The two are going on dates very often now, and I expect a marriage proposal soon."

Raven finished, "Thanks Star." With that, Raven closed the T-communicator, knowing they need to get ready for the operation tonight with Stanley Ryan. Hopefully he hasn't fled yet to dodge the falsified permits charges.


	6. Barn

**Author's Notes**

To everlostneverfound, it would be a bit sad to see Jericho have an unfortunate accident - but Jericho isn't alone. Now he has Kole by his side, as you'll see in this chapter.

To ROCKCHIC179, last chapter was a little sweet, but things are just beginning to heat up for Titans Central, especially in a few chapters when the Titans will face against an enemy...I can't tell you any more, you'll have to wait and see.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

About an hour after Raven called Starfire, Jericho and Kole arrived at the Titans Central tower. The Titans had developed a sort-of teleportation system that allowed them to quickly move between towers. It required a valid DNA match, so only a Titan would be able to use the device. Safeguards were put in the system by Gizmo and Cyborg to prevent shapeshifters such as Madame Rouge (who was long dead) from being able to use it.

Jericho greeted Raven with, "Hello, Raven. What do you need us for?"

Raven then said, "Nice to see you, Jericho. Why did you bring Kole along?"

Kole responded, "I don't want to see my Jericho harmed, and I can't spend a night without him."

Raven snorted, "Figures. Starfire's expecting one of you to pop the question soon."

Jericho replied, "She may have to wait a while. So, what's the mission, Raven?"

With that, Raven brought Jericho and Kole to the main ops room to brief them on the situation. She pulled up a picture of Stanley Ryan on the main screen and started briefing them.

She said, "Jericho, this is Stanley Ryan, a member of the Jump City council. He is working for a militia movement known as the PRA, or the People's Redemption Army. Ryan worked for them by supplying intelligence and falsifying permits. We busted him yesterday and he informed us that he is meeting Patrick Youngblood, a shape-shifter that works for the PRA. Jericho, I called you here so you could take possession of Ryan and meet with Youngblood tonight. We need you to possess Ryan so we can take down Youngblood and hopefully be able to figure out where the PRA meets."

Kole asked, "What is the PRA planning?"

Raven responded, "I don't know, but they've killed north of fifty people along the coast in the past two years and abducted Lilith Clay, the daughter of Loren Jupiter."

Jericho asked, "What do they want with her?"

Raven answered, "She can predict the future and with that ability, it would not be good to have her against you. We need to find her before it's too late."

Jericho said, "I'm in."

Kole then added, "As am I."

Raven then added, "Good. Let's get to work."

* * *

Raven brought Jericho over to the office of Stanley Ryan, who was busy stuffing files from all over his office into his briefcase. It was as if he was preparing for his meeting tonight with Youngblood before never returning to the city.

Upon hearing somebody enter his office, Ryan looked over to see Raven and Jericho. He asked, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Raven responded, "Intercepting your meeting tonight with Mr. Youngblood. Jericho here will be joining you while you meet with Youngblood and slip him a tracking device that would enable us to track him down. Or take him down if need be."

Ryan claimed, "He cannot join me. If Patrick sees anybody with me, I'm a dead man walking."

Raven rhetorically asked, "Who said anything about him being seen with you?"

With that, Jericho walked up to Ryan, who was frantically trying to get out of his office to avoid what Jericho could do to him.

Jericho's eyes glowed yellow as Jericho flew right into Ryan, taking possession of him.

Raven asked Jericho (now in Ryan's body), "So?"

Jericho responded (in Ryan's voice), "I'm ready for the meeting tonight. I just need to switch the files to fake ones and then download all of the information on the computer. It should be an hour or so."

Raven then told Jericho, "Hey, Jericho. Good luck."

Jericho examined the files Ryan had put in the case for Youngblood, seeing that they all had something to do with the city infastructure and the strategies for dealing with the weaknesses that could bring it down.

Jericho removed those files from the briefcase and instead put in similar but ultimately phony files that lacked the details of the files Ryan had packed and were also falsified so if the PRA went after these "strategies", they would most likely wind up in disaster and exposed, having been given the wrong information.

While doing so, Jericho had inserted a T-shaped flash drive into the computer, downloading all of Stanley Ryan's files and his email account, which effectively gave the Titans a way to see what exactly he has been talking about with the PRA, and maybe able to get an address or name.

* * *

After finishing up at Ryan's office, Raven brought Jericho (who was still in Ryan's body) back to the Tower. Jericho exited Ryan before Kid Flash handcuffed him to a chair, keeping him from escaping or alerting anyone to his disappearance.

If anybody at the office were curious as to where Mr. Ryan had gone, Hustler had left a message that Mister Ryan was taking off the remainder of the day for personal issues, which most would presume to be dealing with the permits charges the Titans had landed on him.

With Jericho and Kole present, Raven began drafting out the plan of attack for tonight's operation, meeting with the other Titans in the main ops room, while Mr. Ryan was being held inside the interrogation room.

Raven said, "Okay, Joseph. You are going to meet up with Youngblood at Ninety-Four Lord Porter's Way. I'll be communicating with you and I'll signal you for what you need to do. Grant, Rose, you two will be providing sniper support and overwatch from the grape field a hundred yards out. If things go bad, I'll need you two to provide cover fire. Wally, Nirupama, you two will be providing close-range support. You will be about twenty yards away, hiding in the bushes. Kole, you'll be with me. I need you to monitor the activity behind the place, see if Youngblood has any support. If there is, I'll alert you and be ready to dispatch if necessary. Everyone got their assignments?"

Kid Flash said, "Yeah, boss."

Jinx added, "I know what to do, Raven."

Jericho said, "Got it."

Ravager notioned, "You don't need to tell me twice."

Hustler noted, "Yep."

Kole added, "Let's do this."

Kole, Jinx, Kid Flash, and Raven walked out of the main ops room, leaving Jericho, Ravager, and Hustler in the room. Before Jericho could leave, Ravager put her hand on Jericho's shoulder.

She said, "Joseph, I just want to let you know that Grant and I have your back no matter what. You will make it through this, I guarantee it."

Jericho responded, "Thanks, Rose."

With that, Jericho left the room, leaving Ravager and Hustler present.

Hustler asked, "Do you think we can pull this off?"

Ravager answered, "He's the best we got for this operation. If anybody can mirror Ryan, it's Joseph, Grant. Come on, we need to get ready."

* * *

Lilith Clay slowly awakened in an unknown room, after spending God knows how many hours unconscious, in God knows where. Lilith turned and saw that the room she was in, which she realized was a cell.

It had four barren gray walls with a small door on the other side of the room. Lilith noticed she was seated down in a cold metal chair with her ankles chained to the chair, which was also securely footed to the ground, not to mention that her arms were currently locked on the table, so while she could move her hands and fingers, she could not move her arms.

Lilith said to herself, "God, if you're there, I could really use you right about now."

However, a mysterious voice came from the other side, one very deep and demanding, saying "God cannot save you now."

With that Lilith's cell door opened and a man wearing a black bear mask walked into the cell, holding a sheet of paper and a pen. Lilith asked, "Who are you?"

The man answered, "A predator. You need not know my name. However, I know yours, Lilith, and your nickname, 'Omen'. It seems you have a gift for predicting the future, eh?"

Lilith responded, "Partially, but the accuracy I get isn't always perfect, nor the degree of it is good enough for making generalizations. Why am I here?"

The man said, "I need you to pick five names off of this list. And of course, if your accuracy was perfect, you'd know who I was."

"Any reason behind the fi...no!"

"Yes, Lilith. You are going to help me bring down the Teen Titans. Five names. Five villains that when combined together to form a team, can destroy the Titans once and for all."

"You can't destroy all of them, one of them is an immortal half-demon."

"That may be true, but they can still be brought down, all of them, even Raven. Pick the names and I'll bring you something to eat. Your mind will give you names. Question is, how long will it take?"

With that, the man left Lilith to think and she saw the list of villains on the list, which ranged from Mad Mod and Killer Moth to the Joker and Deadshot to Control Freak and Punk Rocket.

Lilith thought to herself, _I cannot have a hand in destroying the Titans. If I do, I'll be hated but I cannot stay in here for the rest of my life. I need some way around this, some way to fool him. If only I knew his name. He told me to create a team, and that's what I have to do._

Lilith quickly looked at the sheet and grabbed the pen, circling five names off of the list - that would be his team. After finishing, the man quickly came back in and grabbed the list with five circled names. He took the list and Lilith's arms were suddenly unshackled, enabling her to move them.

That would be a good thing as now she could be able to eat, as she was given a turkey sandwich, a bag of sliced apples, and a bottle of skim milk. Having had nothing to eat for a while made Lilith especially hungry, and she devoured the meal.

Lilith asked out loud, "When will I be able to leave?"

The man responded, from outside, "Now that you have picked the team, I am afraid I cannot allow you to leave. I cannot let the Titans know about this, but cheer up, Lilith, I will ensure that you are properly cared. That is, as long as I find you cooperative and prudent to my operation. Ta."

The man walked far away from Lilith, making her hope desperately that her plan had worked and the Titans would find her.

* * *

The Titans were now at 94 Lord Porter's Way, almost ready for the operation. Ravager and Hustler were in place at the grape field, with Hustler utilizing a LaRue OBR rifle and Ravager utilizing a scoped Accuracy International AX308 rifle. They had a clear look over at the barn where Jericho was going to meet Youngblood. Jinx and Kid Flash were hiding behind the bushes, so if Jericho gets compromised, they could quickly take down Youngblood and bring him into custody. Kole was hiding in a nearby grove with Raven, watching to see if there was anybody else that was supporting Youngblood.

Raven spoke in her communicator to Jericho, who was receiving the message telepathically, "Remember, the tracking device is inside the handle of the briefcase. Once you give the case to Youngblood, the tracker activates. Use Ryan's memories to follow the exchange, see how it is done. The better you can grasp Ryan, the better."

Jericho responded to her, "Got it, Raven."

A minute or so later, Kole told Raven, "Someone's coming. From the west, one person at the moment, but I can't tell if there are others."

Raven then used her empathy to pick up the person that Kole was detecting from her binoculars. One second later, she spoke to the others, "Youngblood has arrived. He's got three men for backup armed with submachine guns on him with another five scattering around the perimeter. I'll signal the positions of them. Raven out."

With that, Raven began scanning for the five men Youngblood had scattered around the perimeter - they had only recently arrived, but they were not in places that they would see the Titans providing surveillance and cover on the meeting.

About a second later, Raven found the five guards and briefly reported it in. She spoke quietly into her communicator, "Ravager, two guards about twenty yards in your front. Handle them. Kid Flash, one guard about ten yards to your left. Handle him. Remember, no fatalities. Jinx, Hustler, stay put."

Ravager put down her AX308 rifle and pulled out a katana and a tranquilizer gun. She slowly crept up on the two guards, both armed with Beretta AR-70 rifles. Ravager, after reaching a distance of about four feet away from them, aimed the tranquilizer gun at the one on her right and fired it, knocking the guard out.

He fell down onto the ground and instantly alerted the other guard to someone behind him. Ravager, after discarding the empty tranquilizer gun, used her katana to slice the guard's weapon in half before delivering an elbow to the back of his neck, knocking him out. Ravager reported, "They're down."

Kid Flash quickly zipped over towards the third guard Raven spotted, noticing his back is turned. Taking advantage of the window, Kid Flash zoomed over and delivered a blow to the guard's throat, causing him to fall down unconscious. Kid Flash reported, "He's out."

Raven went to the other two guards while Kole remained on surveillance, watching as Youngblood got into position with Jericho. Youngblood greeted, "Mr. Ryan, how goes it?"

Jericho responded (in Mr. Ryan's voice), "Good. Well as good as things could be right now." Raven was very fortunate that they had not publicized their bust of Stanley Ryan, otherwise the PRA would have found out and ruined the operation, giving them no leads on where they were.

Youngblood then said, "I'd like the files, please."

Jericho handed Youngblood the briefcase containing the tracker and the phony files. The second Youngblood took the briefcase from Jericho, the tracking device activated.

Meanwhile, Raven cast a little spell that sent both guards to a temporary slumber, long and deep enough so they would not hear any of what was going to follow. Raven silently reported, "They're down. Status report?"

Kole reported to her, "Youngblood is meeting with Jericho now."

In the meeting, Youngblood then said, "Mister Ryan, I have an unfortunate announcement to make."

Jericho asked, "What is it, Patrick?"

Youngblood said, in an unexpected voice, "I'm afraid our partnership has been terminated."

Jericho, as Ryan, spoke out, "You're not Deathstroke. He's been dead for almost three years."

Youngblood then spoke in Robin's voice instead of Slade's, "I know that you're in there, Jericho. And I know about the charges. Did you not think Ryan was our only mole inside the council? No. Time for both of you to die."

Kole anxiously said, "Raven, Jericho's been made."

Youngblood said, "These files are useless, they're all phonies" as he threw the briefcase onto the ground and then shot it twice with a TDI Kard handgun. Youngblood pointed the Kard at Jericho, preparing to shoot him.

However, the gun was shot out of his hands by Hustler, in the distance. As a result, Youngblood summoned his three Uzi-wielding guards to finish off Jericho.

Before they could, however, Jinx fired a couple of hexes at the guards that made quick work of their weapons as Kid Flash sent them all crashing to the ground.

Youngblood then changed shape to Mammoth and punched Jericho (still inside of Ryan's body) away. He prepared to charge up and strangle him, but Raven and Kole then came around, with Raven wielding a crystal Kole.

Raven swung Kole at Youngblood, knocking him away from Jericho, enabling Jericho to exit Ryan's body as he then headed towards Youngblood.

Youngblood threw a flurry of punches and kicks towards Raven and Kole, managing to force Kole out of Raven's hands and knock Raven down. Youngblood soon demonstrated something new and then locked Raven's neck down by stretching his arm around it like a cage.

Raven sent a blast of energy towards Youngblood, sending him away but he responded by going for Kole, who was still immobile in her crystal form. Kole quickly reverted back and began to run away from Youngblood, trying to avoid him.

Raven grabbed Youngblood with a white fist and slammed him into the barn nearby. Youngblood then changed from Mammoth to Bane, heading right towards Raven.

Youngblood kicked Raven in the knee such that it nearly dislocated her entire left leg, forcing her onto the ground. Youngblood then stomped on Raven's right shoulder, dislocating it and prepared to stomp on her neck.

Before he could, Jericho came and possessed Youngblood, absorbing himself into him and preventing him from continuing his attack on Raven. He quickly changed Youngblood's form to that of a skrawny teenager as Kid Flash came right behind him.

Jericho exited Youngblood's body as Kid Flash knocked out Youngblood, sending him to the ground. Kid Flash applied a temporary power suppressor to Youngblood, preventing him from shapeshifting as Hustler came around and applied handcuffs.

Ravager came and picked up Raven, asking, "Are you alright, boss?"

Raven, a little shaken, responded, "I'm fine. I'll heal it up tonight. Let's get 'em back to the Tower for interrogation."

With that, Raven engulfed herself in her soul-self and flew back, leaving the Titans to put the remaining guards and Youngblood in custody.


	7. Angelic

**Author's Notes**

To jovanchin2013, Omen will be seen again in a few chapters - her role in the story is far from done.

To mannu227, the story is going to get a whole lot more interesting in the next few chapters.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

The Jump City Police Department sent over a transport bus to enable the Titans to haul in the captive PRA soldiers for questioning, including Patrick Youngblood.

On the weapons carried by the soldiers, Ravager ran a ballistics check and found that the majority of the weapons had been unused and none of them matched the serial numbers on the weapons stolen from Colin Vance. Ravager surmised, "We have a lot more people to deal with than just Vance. Someone else has been giving the PRA weapons."

The Titans checked the make of the weapons and found that all of them had been smuggled to the United States from Senegal, but unlike the weapons stolen from Vance, these weapons did not come from Pakistan - they came from Markovia, the home nation of one particular Teen Titan.

After learning this, Raven went to the main ops room and initiated a video conference with the Titans East, who were closest to the Eastern European nation of Markovia.

Beast Boy greeted Raven with, "Hello, Rae. It's been what, two months since you last called? Well, Terra and I expect to see you at the wedding in October."

Raven replied, "I didn't call to speak with you. I need to speak with your fiancee. She may have information that may help us track down a radical militia movement."

Beast Boy yelled, "Terra, Raven needs to talk with you."

About five seconds later, Terra was at the video screen, but she was definitely anxious with what Raven would likely ask of her.

Terra asked, "Why did you need me, Raven? Did I do anything wrong?"

Raven responded, "We believe that weapons are being smuggled from your home nation of Markovia into Senegal and from there into the United States. Do you know of anybody that would be producing these weapons or acquiring them?"

Terra answered, "There is only one group in Markovia that is allowed to make or own firearms - the Markovian Military, and they generally go with HK416 rifles and P99 handguns. However, I have heard that ten years ago, Vandal Savage was running guns through Markovia. The League busted him and now he is cryogenically frozen up with Zatanna."

Raven asked, "Terra, can you get in contact with your brother Geo-Force?"

Terra said, "With some difficulty. What do you need?"

"All associates of Savage and everything on the League's case then. I'll request the files from the League. We need everything that could lead us to whoever is sending weapons to our militia movement over here."

"The People's Redemption Army?"

"How do you know them, Terra?"

"The man Slade saved me from, was a member of the PRA. I have had a few run-ins with them in my lifetime, especially before I became a Titan. Slade warned me to avoid them as he said, and I quote, _'that they are nothing more than ambitious, sociopathic, destructive bastards that have no desire for redemption, only chaos_'."

"Guess he was right on that account."

"True that. See you Raven, hopefully at the wedding."

"See you there, Terra."

With that, Raven cut the feed. Now, she had to interrogate Youngblood to see what he had to hide.

* * *

The PRA guards captured by the Titans were interrogated by Hustler, with the general message being that they were hired to protect Youngblood and kill anyone that attacked him. They were paid from a Zandian bank account a payment of $100,000 per duty. They went through the names of the guards, and found that most of them were just street hires, nobody that was true evil or muscle. Many of them knew nothing about the People's Redemption Army, which they surmised was probably on purpose.

Youngblood was brought into an interrogation room, with a temporary power suppressor on him and was handcuffed to his chair, which was bolted onto the ground and his ankles also locked to the chair.

Raven walked into the interrogation room, with Ravager, Jinx, and Kid Flash all on the other side in observation. Raven opened the interrogation with, "So, Mr. Youngblood, I hear you have impersonated one Ra's al Ghul. Immortal head of the League of Assassins. He is not a pleasant man to be around, I know. And when he finds out you have been impersonating him, he'll want your blood."

Youngblood scoffed, "Tell him to come and get it."

Raven continued, "We have you on impersonating countless public officials and at least one homicide. We got your prints on file and they matched a bank robbery in Dallas, Texas. Three million dollars stolen and one guard with a three fifty seven in his neck. You've always gotten what you wanted with your forms, but they're not going to do you shit here. You've got a lot to answer for. I suggest you start answering."

"What do you want to know, you demon bitch?"

"You know who I am, and I suppose you also know that I am an Archfiend of the Infernal Provinces. That's kid's talk for hell. And I have the power to select people to bring to my realm. If you don't give me what I want, I will extract it from you, painfully and brutally before sending you off to my Province to suffer until the end of eternity."

"I will not tell you who Black Bear is."

"Won't or can't, Mr. Youngblood? I can tell you are lying. Do you want me to go through your mind?"

"I don't know who he is, and Black Bear happens to be everywhere. Those who know his name are kept under his watch every second of the day. His name is spilled and that person will not see the next moment."

"Are there any other members of the People's Redemption Army you can tell me about? Particularly any of the top ten members?"

"Colin Vance, but you already know him. Angela Light, Stanley Ryan, Lucien Descartes. All productive members of the movement but none are leaders."

From observation, Jinx became wide-eyed at the mention of Lucien Descartes. Kid Flash asked Jinx, "Do you know him?"

Jinx said, "Lucien Descartes murdered See-More."

Ravager muttered, "Kyd Wykkyd." Kyd Wykkyd was a member of the People's Redemption Army, so Jinx could only assume that he wasn't the only HIVE member that joined the movement.

Raven asked in the interrogation room, "Can you get us in contact with Mr. Descartes?"

Youngblood replied, "Black Bear is the only one that contacts Descartes. He comes and goes, he works alone, and he is very deadly. Watch your back."

"Any teleporters you happen to know of, other than Mr. Descartes?" Raven knew that Wykkyd was Descartes, having sensed it from Jinx and Ravager behind the glass.

"Just Descartes. He is the only teleporter in the movement and the only one Black Bear sought to recruit."

"Thank you for your time, Patrick. Your cooperation will be noted in court."

* * *

After last night's operation, Jericho was currently in Titans Med Bay, recovering from his possession of both Ryan and Youngblood. Ryan was not the problem for Jericho - possessing a shapeshifter was always exhausting for Jericho. That's why he always avoided going into Beast Boy, because it was so tiring. He was trying to regain his strength after falling unconscious.

Jericho had exited Youngblood before falling unconscious in Ravager's arms. After cuffing the PRA soldiers, Ravager had put Jericho in the T-Z back seat, where Kole was next to him the entire time.

Jericho found out the problem with possessing shapeshifters about a year earlier when he was chasing down one that was terrorizing Toronto. While he got in, he fell unconscious almost exactly afterwards. It took Jericho roughly two days to wake up, and Kole never left his side. While she knew it probably wouldn't be two days, maybe a few hours as his body was better prepared for it. The first time is always the roughest, isn't it.

And much like last time, Kole was still with him as Jericho laid unconscious on the bed, peacefully resting. Kole always loved being with Jericho, especially watching him sleep. She had yet to take the next step in their relationship, and after what happened last night, with Jericho being made, she feared she would lose him.

Jericho finally came to, roughly sixteen hours after falling unconscious. Jericho opened his eyes to see Kole, who said "Hello there" to him.

He responded, "How long have I been out?"

"Sixteen hours. You possessed Youngblood and knocked him out, but it knocked you out as well."

"Where are we?"

"Still at Titans Central. I was waiting until you woke up before returning to Titans North. Anyway, I was thinking about us."

"What do you mean?"

"We've been going out for what, two years now?"

"Slightly more than that, Kole. Why?"

With that, Kole went down on one knee and gave Jericho a ring with a crystal on top. She said, "Joseph Wilson, will you marry me?"

"Oh my God, Kole. I did not expect this. Where did you get the crystal so fast? It looks a lot like yours."

"It is one of mine. There was another reason why I came here. Raven has been teaching me to create constructs out of my crystal."

"How long have you known you could?"

"A few years. I first learned when I met Raven. She has been teaching me how to do it for a few years, to extend my crystal self to creating constructs. I never expected I could at first, but I can. So, Joseph, what do you say?"

"Kole, I don't know what to say."

Before Jericho could continue, Hustler came in and whispered, "Say yes, Joey."

Jericho snarked at his brother, "Way to ruin the moment, Grant."

"It's a big moment, our little brother getting engaged."

"Our?"

Ravager came in and said, "We saw you regained consciousness and came in."

Jericho grabbed Kole's hands and uttered, "Yes. Kole, I will marry you."

* * *

In the main ops room, Raven and Jinx were trying to figure out a way to track down Kyd Wykkyd. Jinx suggested, "Back at the Academy, Kyd had a thing for Angel. I'm willing to bet that if we get her, we can lure Kyd out of hiding."

Raven threw in, "All we need to do is find Angel and we can get Wykkyd."

Ravager soon came into the room. Raven continued, "Rose, did you access Wykkyd's fingerprints?"

She responded, "I've been stonewalled by the HIVE security in the network. For being defunct, they have quite the security protocols. I've called in Gizmo to help break in. And that's not all."

Jinx asked, "What is it?"

Ravager said, "Kole proposed. Joseph accepted."

Raven commented, "A double Titan wedding. Jericho and Kole, and Beast Boy and Terra. Hard to imagine how love flies with superheroes. Tell Grant we need him undercover to help us get Angel."

Hustler came into the room and added, "You can tell Grant yourself. What am I calling her for?"

Raven said, "Be creative."

Hustler then said, "I need Angel's number if I am to get her."

With that, Jinx threw towards Hustler a card that had Angel's number on it, which she kept from her time at the HIVE Academy.

Hustler went to the Tower's undercover line, which they could use to disguise who is calling as just about anybody. Hustler dialed the number and said after he knew Angel had picked up the phone, "Is this Margaret Barkley?"

Angel answered, "Yes. Who is this?"

Hustler said, "I am Professor Evan Vaughn of Dark Way Prep. You have been requested for a guest speech. I'd like to negotiate terms, Miss Barkley."

"When do you want to meet?"

"Are you available now?"

"Let's meet at the Poster Club in thirty minutes. I'll see you there."

"See you there."

With that, Angel hung up the phone, heading her way to the Poster Club, a daytime club for people that needed to meet secretly. Unfortunately, Poster Club had confidentiality rules that prevented the Titans from getting in. However, while they couldn't do surveillance, they could get Grant in, and get Angel out of the club. They knew that Angel would be in disguise, so they needed to know which one was Angel, aka Margaret Barkley.

* * *

Margaret Barkley walked down the streets of Jump City, with short blond hair covered by a red beret, a black skirt with a blue blouse. It wasn't anything like her old HIVE uniform, but it was practical for civilian life. Her long white feathered wings were hidden, as Brother Blood had helped her learn how to hide them. She hadn't brought out her wings in months, trying to maintain as low a profile as possible.

On the outside, Poster Club didn't seem too extraordinary, which was exactly the purpose to keep it hidden. The interior, however, greatly resembled a 1990's style retro cafe with an almost all-black interior, purple tables, and red chairs. Raven had never been inside of Poster Club, mainly because its founder was a member of the Church of Blood, who had since been arrested on narcotics charges, but if she did chose to go inside, she would not find it too discomforting.

Hustler, now wearing a blue suit and yellow tie, was effectively disguised as Professor Evan Vaughn for his meeting with Angel. Beforehand, Jinx had given Hustler a crash course in Dark Way Prep, so he knew enough that he could pose as a teacher at the school, even though he wasn't.

Hustler walked into Poster Club and saw Angel had already sat down at one of the last tables available. Every day, hundreds of people tried to get into Poster Club, but only a few dozen were able to, because it was simply so restrictive. Angel had gotten in because she bribed the door guy with a promise of oral sex. Hustler had a VIP tag that enabled him to get in, which Raven had negotiated with the new owner of Poster Club after the old one had been convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.

Hustler sat down in front of Angel, and he said, "Greetings, Miss Barkley."

Angel replied, "Hello, Professor Vaughn. How goes things at Dark Way Prep? Is Principal Boltanisky still there?"

"No. He died two years ago. Of complications due to arsenic poisoning." That statement was true, of course, since the Titans had investigated on Jinx and Gizmo's request. They discovered he was murdered by one of his old students - Jade Nguyen, also known as Cheshire. Jinx believed that Cheshire was working on a contract when Boltanisky died, but has been unable to prove it.

"It's a goddamn shame. How long have you been teaching at Dark Way Prep?"

"Four years." Angel had graduated from Dark Way six years earlier, in the same class that saw Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Billy Numerous, See-More, and Kyd Wykkyd graduate as well.

"What do you teach at Dark Way?"

"Evasive psychology. How to avoid fitting police profiles." That was a class at Dark Way Prep, which also happened to be one of Angel's major classes.

"What do you want me to speak about?"

"How this skill comes into usage in the real world."

"Okay Mr. Vaughn. I have one issue, though. I checked Dark Way records and your name isn't on the full-time teacher roster." Unfortunately, because of the time constraints, they couldn't get "Vaughn" into the system as a full-time teacher. However, they did get him onto the staff roster, just barely.

"It's an IT mistake. I'm on the staff roster, probably under miscellaneous. I teach four days a week this season. Five when it gets time for fall."

"Okay, then. I would believe that, but it just so happens that Dark Way Prep downgraded to four day weeks during the fall. Surely a teacher at the school would have known that. Or are you not a teacher at Dark Way, Mr. Vaughn?"

"I am a teacher at Dark Way Prep. I'm telling you. I just forgot about the new calendar."

"Did you Mr. Vaughn, or did Jinx not know, Hustler?" That was the last straw - Angel had figured out Vaughn's true identity.

Angel pulled a NAA Guardian on Hustler who in turn pulled a Smith & Wesson Model 460V on her, both sides in a Mexican stand-off. While there was no killing allowed at the club, guns were permitted, however, just as long as a brawl did not come out. The last thing the club needed was it to become a crime scene.

"This doesn't have to end violently, Angel. We just need to ask you some questions about an old classmate."

"What does this have to do with shit? Can't you use some computer magic and locate this so-called friend of mine? What makes you so sure that I am necessary to this task?"

"Because you were the student that knew him the best. You were in love with him while you were at the HIVE. You might know something. And he murdered one of your other classmates as well."

"What makes you think that I will tell you anything?"

"If you don't, you will be under arrest for accessory to murder and interfering in an investigation as well as aiding a threat to the world."

"My record's got enough stains on it. I wanted to get out of the criminal world, and I can't afford to get back in. I'll come with you, Hustler. But I'd rather not be cuffed."

Hustler grabbed a temporary power suppressor and attached it to Angel, preventing her from flying. After looking back at her shocked expression, Hustler said, "I didn't cuff you. Come on, Raven's got questions for you."


	8. Murder

**Author's Notes**

To shadowyshadow, thanks for the advice. It certainly helped me figure a new direction to take the story in, something darker, something that the Titans are going to have much more difficulty with. However, I did find it curious you reviewed chapter 7 _before_ you reviewed chapter 1.

To readers, I want you to vote on the poll on my page to help determine the ending of _Second Chance._

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

Hustler brought Angel back from Poster Club to Titans Tower, where she would be interrogated for information about Kyd Wykkyd, whom they know has killed Colin Vance and is working for the People's Redemption Army. If they find him, they can certainly find the PRA base and the identity of "Black Bear".

Terra had sent over the files from Markovia regarding Vandal Savage's gun-running operation, having acquired them from her brother, Brion Markov, aka Geo-Force. They weren't exactly on loving terms, but good enough so they wouldn't be attacking each other or giving the other the silent treatment.

Ravager and Kid Flash were going through the files while Raven was still awaiting the League files on Savage, believing that one of his former lieutenants may be still running weapons for the PRA.

Meanwhile, Jinx began the interrogation of Angel, who was seated while Hustler watched in observation. Jinx started, "So, Margaret, it's been a while. How have you been doing since the HIVE shut down?"

Angel responded, "I got nothing to say to a turncoat bitch like yourself. You and Gizmo should both be joining See-More in hell."

"Well, we have somebody that can keep us out of hell if need be. One of the Archfiends of the Infernal Provinces."

"Why now? Why not years ago? What do you want from me that you couldn't have gotten?"

"Your old school boyfriend."

"Lucien Descartes. What do you want with Kyd? What did he do now?"

"Other than executing See-More, we believe he's working for a radicalist militia movement hellbent on destroying the world. He's got another three lives on his hands and abducted a child a few days ago."

"Why did you come to me?"

"We figured you may have some information on Kyd that we don't already have. The HIVE mainframe is locked and we need to get him to lead us to the movement if we are to shut it down."

"You could have just asked, Nirupama. I haven't seen Kyd since before See-More died. He got some mysterious orders from somebody known as 'Black Bear' to kill See-More. At the time, I thought the man was HIVE, but he wasn't. The HIVE Academy was officially gone when Blood and Headmistress died."

"What happened to the old Headmistress?"

"Her body was found over a year ago in Shanghai. She'd been dead for close to three years at the time. Brutally disemboweled and tortured by Brother Blood. I didn't know it at the time but I think Kyd buried the body. Anyway, I didn't want Kyd to do it, but he insisted and we broke up that day. I looked at his communications, and he'd been contacted by 'Black Bear' for months before See-More's death."

"Do you know anywhere Kyd Wykkyd could be?"

"He had an old safehouse in downtown Jump. I can show you, but I want immunity. I want to be able to live a normal life until I die. I never wanted these wings."

"Then why do you have them?"

"My dad was a religious fanatic that wanted to create a real angel. I ran away soon after and Blood found me."

* * *

Kid Flash and Ravager were going through Terra's files and found that Savage had only two lieutenants and a lot of hired muscle. Only Savage and the lieutenants had the ability to access the weapons, which meant one of them had to be working for the PRA.

Ravager checked out the weapons, finding that they had been smuggled to the United States over a period of five years. The first lieutenant had been killed a year before the smuggling started by a crooked Albanian cop. The second lieutenant was taken into custody along with Savage, and was imprisoned in Mastion Bay, an underwater prison two hundred miles off the coast of Singapore.

Raven surmised, "If the lieutenants are gone, then the only one that could still be running weapons is Vandal Savage himself. I need to call the League."

Raven opened up a connection to the League, and answering on the other side was the Martian Manhunter.

The Martian asked Raven, "What reason do you have for calling Raven?"

She replied, "I need a DNA check on Vandal Savage. We believe he is not currently imprisoned on Cryo-1 and that he is still running weapons through Markovia."

He answered, "Understood, Raven. We will have the results in a few hours."

The Martian Manhunter cut the feed, leaving Raven to check upon Jinx's results with her interrogation of Angel.

Jinx came into the main ops room. Raven asked, "How did interrogation go with Angel?"

The pinkette replied, "Good. She'll lead us to one of Wykkyd's bases if we let her live her life as a normal being."

Raven's response was, "Let's move out. We have a killer to catch."

* * *

The Titans quickly headed out towards the safe house Angel had described for them. Ravager, Hustler, and Angel took lead with the T-Z, heading towards the location while Raven, Kid Flash, and Jinx followed.

The safe house was a small abandoned apartment complex that had yet to be commissioned for demolition because of the paperwork required. With nobody there, the Titans figured it would be a perfect safe house for Kyd Wykkyd.

Angel, Ravager, and Hustler got out of the T-Z and were soon met by Raven, Kid Flash, and Jinx. Raven asked, "You sure this is the place, Angel?"

Angel responded, "Absolutely. Lucien..."

Angel was cut off by a high-caliber bullet that impacted her right in the side of the head. Angel's corpse fell onto the front of the T-Z, splattering blood all over the place before slipping onto the ground.

Hustler shouted out, "Sniper!"

Ravager added, "Kyd Wykkyd."

Immediately, Raven created a shield while the Titans activated the four armored doors, to ensure that Kyd's bullets could not hit them. The Titans neither heard nor saw the bullet coming, indicating that Kyd was far away with a silenced sniper rifle.

Indeed, Kyd Wykkyd was, holding a sound-suppressed Blaser 93 with a precision scope and bipod. Wykkyd took aim at the T-Z, trying to shoot at the Titans inside. However, his first shot was immediately blocked by Raven's shield as the doors went up. While Raven went after Wykkyd, he fired two more shots at the doors, failing to break them down as he anticipated.

Realizing that Raven was on him, Wykkyd quickly changed positions from the rooftop he was on roughly eight hundred yards away to a window roughly twenty yards away, where he had stashed a Browning M2 machine gun on a mount with an aircraft sight.

As Raven sensed Wykkyd's sudden move, she yelled into her T-communicator, "Wykkyd's to the side!"

Realizing what Raven had said, Ravager and Kid Flash got into the car on the right-hand side and closed the doors, quickly blocking off Wykkyd's bullets from hitting them as they heavily bounced off of the doors and windows.

Hustler used that time to grab the M40A3 and took aim at Wykkyd where he was firing his machine gun. Hustler fired a round, but Wykkyd simply dodged the bullet and resumed firing on the Titans.

Hustler chambered the M40A3 and fired another round, this one aimed at the Browning M2. Wykkyd moved the gun so the bullet harmlessly impacted the nearby brick.

Wykkyd continued firing for a few more seconds until he ran out of the .50-cal ammunition that fed the Browning.

Sensing Wykkyd was out, Hustler picked up the SCAR-L PDW and began shooting at Wykkyd's position, trying to keep him in cover long enough so Raven or another Titan could take him down.

Wykkyd knew this strategy all too well and managed to escape, now teleporting himself right behind Hustler, aiming a L85A1 rifle at his back, preparing to finish him off.

Kid Flash quickly sped up towards the teleporter, trying to take him down, yelling, "Lucien, drop the weapon."

Kyd Wykkyd responded by shooting Kid Flash thrice in the leg, causing him to sputter out and hit his head into a building.

Hustler noticed Kyd and began firing on him, forcing Wykkyd to move away, trying to get a better spot to take out his Titan opponent.

Before he could get a round into Hustler, Raven arrived and sent the gun right out of his hands and appeared right in front of him. She said, "We can do this the easy way, Lucien. Or the hard way. What's your pick, Kyd?"

Wykkyd then used his abilities to teleport away from Raven, only for her to follow his every move. As he kept teleporting from building to building, Raven followed trying to take him down for interrogation.

After a few minutes, Raven had failed to put the pressure on Wykkyd so she used her soul-self against him, managing to ensnare his leg as Raven went up to him, preparing to put the temporary power suppressor on.

As Raven touched his arm, she was suddenly overwhelmed by a flurry of memories. Violent memories. Raven saw Wykkyd as he executed See-More and as he executed Angel. She was flooded by almost three years worth of murders committed by Wykkyd, numbering in the hundreds of deaths all across the globe.

In her distraction, Wykkyd kicked her away and pulled out a Taurus Raging Bull revolver in .454 Casull and shot Raven in the arm, causing her to drop the temporary power suppressor and then in each leg.

Before Kyd could continue his range of damage, Hustler shot the gun out of Kyd's hands and he soon teleported far away from his opponents. Ravager soon arrived and helped support Raven as she got up, obviously in pain from the bullets.

Ravager said, "That's going to hurt in the morning" as the Wilsons brought Raven to the T-X, where Kid Flash already lay with his wounded leg.

Hustler asked, "Raven, why are you like this?", noticing that Raven is near catonic, in obvious shock from what she has seen.

Raven stuttered out, "Ravager...Jinx...back to the Tower."

Jinx inquired, "Why the hell are you telling us to leave the crime scene, Raven?"

Raven continued, "Because...your lives...are in...danger."

Ravager demanded, "Why are our lives in danger? What the hell did you see?"

Raven grabbed Ravager with her one good arm and instilled into her, "The People's Redemption Army hasn't been recruiting the HIVE. They've been **killing **it. And Wykkyd's been their hitman. See-More was the first of Wykkyd's killings and Angel likely won't be the last."

Jinx asked, "Are you serious, Raven? How could Wykkyd do such a thing?"

"The PRA must have hacked into the HIVE databases and secured every bit of information on the school alumini. That's why we couldn't get in. And now, you, Ravager, Gizmo, Bumblebee, and Cyborg are all in danger."

Kid Flash asked, "Why are Cy and Bee in danger?"

Jinx answered her boyfriend, "Because they both went undercover in the HIVE when Brother Blood was in charge. Raven, is Mammoth alive? Raven, tell me. Is Mammoth alive?"

Raven silently cried out, "Mammoth was drowned in the Marinara Trench a little over a year ago. I'm sorry."

"What about Billy Numerous?"

"Strangled to death in his New Orleans jail cell two years ago."

"Private HIVE?"

"Gunned down in Paris fifteen months ago."

"Wrestling Star?"

"Buried alive in Chile six weeks ago."

"XL Terrestrial?"

"Decapitated in Morocco twenty-one months ago."

"SteamRoller?"

"Blown up from the inside nine months ago."

"I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R?"

"Electrocuted in Pittsburg fourteen weeks ago."

Hustler muttered, "Oh my God. Come on, Rose, Jinx, we need to get you back to the Tower. Jinx, try to not damage my car."

Ravager answered, "For the what fiftieth time, this is not **your** car!"

With that, all five Titans got into the T-Z - Raven and Kid Flash went into the car because of their injuries from Kyd Wykkyd and Jinx went in because her ride was down.

* * *

The Titans made it back to the Tower and immediately activated the teleportation wards, which prevented anybody from teleporting into the Tower, a measure that hopefully would keep Kyd Wykkyd out.

Kid Flash and Raven were brought to med bay where Ravager extracted the three bullets in Raven's limbs. While she managed to eject the bullets fired by Red-X at her, they were compressed nitrogen, not metal. The rounds Wykkyd used were definitely harder and almost impaled themselves in her bone.

Raven could begin to heal the injuries - the flesh at least, but her bones would take a few days more. After patching herself up as best she could, she moved onto Kid Flash, removing the bullets and healing him up, though much like herself, Kid Flash is going to deal with leg pain for a little longer than he would prefer.

In the med bay, Hustler asked, "So why did Kyd shoot Angel? I assume it wasn't an accident."

Raven proved his point with, "You're right, Grant. There was no wind, so he had to have been aiming right at Angel. He's quiet enough so nobody could detect him and it would be easy to perform his hits. We need to know who 'Black Bear' is now or else. I need to warn the other Titans at risk. And until we have that bastard in custody, Jinx, Rose, you two are off-duty."

Raven rushed up to the main ops room and began a dual connection to both the Titans South and the Titans Tango teams, hoping to warn them about the threat Kyd Wykkyd poses before it is too late.

Cyborg asked, upon opening the connection, "Yo, Rae. What's up?"

The second connection opened and Bumblebee came on, saying, "What do you need Raven?"

Raven answered, "You two are both in danger."

The two team leaders (and possible lovers) spoke as one, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Kyd Wykkyd has been murdering everybody that ever went to the HIVE Academy. He started with See-More and has Billy Numerous, Private HIVE, XL Terrestrial, Wrestling Star, Mammoth, and now Angel on his record. Over eight hundred dead in the past few years. You two and Gizmo are both in danger."

Bumblebee inquired, "I take it this has something to do with the PRA."

Raven replied, "Wykkyd is a member. He murdered Colin Vance and abducted Lilith Clay for her precognitive ability."

Cyborg commented, "Lilith Clay? Loren Jupiter's daughter."

Raven inquired, "How did you know that? I just found out a day or two ago from Jupiter himself."

Cyborg noted, "I always do background checks on our investors. Okay, I'll activate the teleportation wards."

Bumblebee added, "Same here. I'll also see if there are any HIVE alum..."

Bumblebee was interrupted by a grumbling of, "Kyd Wykkyd, what the bloody hell are you doing here?"

Bumblebee shrieked, "Shit!"

Bumblebee quickly left the main ops room in the Titans Tango Tower, quickly heading to Gizmo's room where Wykkyd was opening gunfire on Gizmo, who was apparently fighting back with some portable laser guns.

Cyborg grimly noted, "Hope the two survive. Raven, kick Kyd's ass."

Cyborg cut the connection soon before Bumblebee arrived, resulting in sounds of tasers, gunfire, and laser shots emerging before they apparently stopped. Raven shouted, "Bumblebee, Gizmo, do you copy? Karen? Mikron? Do you copy? Are you alright?"

* * *

An hour later, the Titans were anxiously awaiting the news on Bumblebee and Gizmo in the main ops room. Aqualad came onto the screen with the sitrep (situation report) on the two.

Raven asked, "Aqualad, any news on Gizmo and Bumblebee?"

Aqualad said, slightly dour, "Bumblebee will live, but she will lose a leg as a result of what Kyd did. Gizmo, he could go either way. He lost a lot of blood. Five gunshots to his chest. I'm thankful that she found him when she did. Any later and Gizmo would be dead. His jumpsuit was slightly armored so that reduced the damage. If Gizmo survives this, however, he likely will become permanently paraplegic."

Raven said, "I'm just thankful that they're alright. Teleportation wards are up at all Towers now. We cannot let Wykkyd get in and do any more damage. One question remains, though. Why now?"

Kid Flash surmised, "Maybe because the PRA is trying to take us out. Once the HIVE is gone, and it pretty much is, they're going after us. Damn, that's what this whole thing was about."

Ravager added, "Black Bear is trying to take us out. The Teen Titans, and he needed the manpower to do it. Now he's got it, a perfect opportunity."

Jinx threw in, "Angela was going to warn us about them. She used her identity as Light to draw us in but Sinclair killed her on Black Bear's orders."

Suddenly, the Titans got a connection call from the Watchtower. Raven opened up the connection and saw the Martian Manhunter.

Raven asked, "Did you get a DNA result?"

The Martian Manhunter answered, "The body on Cryo-1 under the identity of Vandal Savage cannot possibly be him. The fingerprints are from one of his old lieutenants, Franco Propoya."

Raven finished, "Thank you" before cutting the feed.

Jinx said, "If Propoya is on the satellite..."

Hustler continued, "...then Savage took Propoya's identity. He faked his death with the crooked cop."

Ravager added, "And came to America. Savage is an immortal."

Kid Flash noted, "And he has connections in Zandia and Markovia."

Raven concluded, "And Vandal Savage is Black Bear."


	9. Vandalism

**Author's Notes**

To guest, as I said in the last chapter, _Murder_, Vandal Savage is Black Bear, the head of the People's Redemption Army. Bumblebee will live, albeit without a leg from the amount of damage sustained on her by Kyd Wykkyd and I don't know if Gizmo will live, but it is official he will be out of field duty for the rest of his life.

To shadowyshadow, thanks for the explanation why. Your comments got me thinking about Kyd and I sort of wanted to do something where someone was killing the HIVE (inspired by Outside85's _Raven Rising_ series - look at _Book 2 - Scars_ chapter 30, and you'll see my inspiration for killing off Angel, Mammoth, and so many others). This story is going to become a lot more intense once Savage's motives are revealed, which odds are will be in this chapter or next. The Titans may have more to lose or may not - I can tell you that Ravager will become a person of interest for the PRA.

Remember to vote in the poll on my page if you want to decide the ending to my other story, _Second Chance_.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

Raven and the other Titans had now realized that they were going up against Vandal Savage if they were to bring down the PRA. They knew instantly that he had a lot of manpower focused on them in preparation for the group's original intention of "redeeming" themselves for the sins of the government, which would involve overthrowing it and placing Vandal Savage in charge.

Hustler noted, "We are in some deep shit here, people."

Ravager agreed, "It's bad enough Kyd Wykkyd is after us but we've got to contend with _him_ of all people, we're doomed."

Raven barked, "We're not doomed. We've faced a lot harder odds before and still came out on top. We need a strategy."

Kid Flash commented, "We need Wykkyd. He's the only one that knows where the base is. He's the only way we can get there."

Jinx responded, "Well that would be easy if he wasn't trying to kill me and Rose. I never thought Kyd was so violent, he was always so quiet in class."

Raven added, "Slade did once tell me, 'it's always the quiet ones, isn't it' on my birthday when he branded me with the Mark of Skaath. Not incredibly surprised that Kyd wound up a hardened killer."

Hustler inquired, "So how many HIVE alumini are left?"

Ravager answered, "Just us, Bumblebee, Cyborg, Gizmo, Kyd, and Cheshire."

Raven asked, "Cheshire?"

Jinx replied, "Jade Nguyen. Vietnamese girl obsessed with the Cheshire cat. Her mask is based on it, which enables her to go invisible until she smiles. She also has killer claws. If Kyd wanted her, he'd have his work cut out for him. Jade is a hitman."

Hustler commented, "She killed Larry Boltanisky a few years ago. Angel told me in Poster Club. She's a ghost. Even if Savage wanted her dead, she'd be impossible to find unless she wanted you to find her."

Kid Flash added, "Maybe Savage has found her. Maybe she's working for him."

* * *

Inside the headquarters of the People's Redemption Army, Vandal Savage was seated inside of his control room, where he was watching Lilith Clay squirm around inside of her cell, unable to escape. It had been about two days since Kyd Wykkyd abducted her and murdered her adoptive parents, and she couldn't take much more.

She shouted from her cell, "Black Bear let me out of here! You don't need to keep me! I want to go home!"

From his office, Savage responded, "No chance Lilith. I need to see if your hand-picked team can best the Titans Central. If they succeed, you get to stay here forever. If they fail, I will kill you."

Lilith spat, "Better than this hell you're trapping me in."

Savage commented, "Oh, I have endured much worse than this, dear girl. And I guarantee you, so will you."

She said, "The Titans will find you, Vandal Savage. They will kick your ass and rescue me."

Savage asked, "Will they, Lilith? Is that your precognition or just your hopes and fantasies?"

Savage turned off the feed as Kyd Wykkyd came into the room.

Savage asked Wykkyd, "Did you get them?"

Wykkyd replied, in a relatively shallow British voice, "Angel is dead, sir. But the Titans know about the side killings you have commissioned me for. They know I have been after the HIVE. Bumblebee survived the attack but she is permanently wounded. Gizmo, I hit pretty bad, but I don't know if it was good enough."

Savage added, "You may have missed your targets this time, but the Titans will fall. It's only a matter of time before they meet their demise."

Wykkyd asked, "What is my next assignment?"

Savage answered, "Ravager. Lucien, however, I do need her alive."

"Why, sir?"

"Her blood contains the last remnants of the super serum experimented upon in her father forty years ago. His blood is all gone. Her brother got none of the serum whilst hers had all of it."

"And if I encounter Jinx or the other Titans?"

"Other than Ravager and Raven, if you come across a Titan, kill them. Raven, avoid her at the moment, for once we have Ravager, we will have the key to fighting her. You remember the Sword of the Hallows?"

"Rumor has it that the sword is the only weapon capable of slaying a half-demon. Supposedly vanished after Raven used it to kill Sebastian Blood, my former Headmaster."

"Well, it is in my possession Kyd. And you will get to be the one that kills Raven, that sends the bitch to the worst circle of hell to suffer for all the good she's done."

"What about her Infernal Province? I am no demon nor a member of the Church of Blood."

"Not yet, but you will. You get her province and I get the globe. Sound like a deal?"

"Deal."

* * *

Now, the Titans were trying to figure out where in the woods Savage could possibly be. They had tracked Kyd Wykkyd to somewhere in the forest after he abducted Lilith Clay, but they were attacked by Sinclair.

Kid Flash asked, "Any trace on the teleportation jumps?"

Raven responded, "Kyd is a piece of work. He used satin powder to cover his teleportations, making it impossible to get an accurate trace of where he went. I can't get inside of his head either. He has some powerful mental blocks keeping me out."

Jinx said, "So we're going to need something else to locate Kyd. Do we have anything on his bank statements, phones, or credit cards?"

Ravager glumly answered, "All of Kyd's money is in a bank account in Zandia, same bank that Savage keeps his funds, the same account that paid Stanley Ryan for the false permits. Kyd gets all of his messages on an encrypted pager that has a powerful scrambling signal inside. And all of Kyd's transactions are cash. He last withdrew nine hundred thousand dollars from his account about three weeks ago. He's got more than enough to last him for a while. We'll never find him at this rate."

Hustler commented, "Kyd's on the defensive. He's impossible to track. Our only chance is to get him on the offensive and we could trap him."

Raven added, "That's our best bet, but unfortunately we don't have anything that Kyd wants. Other than Jinx and Ravager. No HIVE alumini. No targets. Nothing. And he knows we've set up our teleportation wards. He won't try to get in."

Jinx asked, "Did you see anything else in Kyd's head other than him butchering the HIVE?"

Raven answered, "The images he put at the forefront of his mind when I tried to tap in were the HIVE killings. He wanted to destabilize me long enough to escape. He killed all of them alone. He used teleportation to get in and out before heading back to base after each...Wait a minute."

Kid Flash inquired, "What is it, boss?"

Raven replied, "Kyd didn't teleport all the way to the base after Lilith's abduction. He teleported to the forest before walking the rest of the way. If he teleported to base, we'd have gotten the location. He didn't use satin powder because Lilith is allergic to it. If he did, she would have died and fucked up Savage's plan."

Hustler said, "Okay, I'll get the satellite feeds of the forest the day Lilith was abducted. If they were there, we'd be able to find them."

Jinx noted, "Even if they were there, Kyd is cold-blooded. Thermals won't work and he could have sent Lilith to an alternate dimension."

Raven countered, "Even so, Kyd had to have walked Lilith there. She still has a thermal signature. We can track her. And if Kyd moved Lilith to another dimension, I would have sensed it by now."

Hustler said, "Got the sat feeds. Kyd brought her there at two in the afternoon. He walked for about two miles before arriving at the PRA base."

Raven used the satellite feed to watch as Kyd walked Lilith bridal-style towards the PRA base. She thought to herself, _Thank you Bruce for the satellite access_.

Then, they finally saw where the entrance to the base was - a small cavern hidden deep within the forest. They watched the satellite feed as Kyd walked into the cavern and then the thermal signature vanished.

Raven ordered, "Kid, with me, we need to explore the cavern. Hustler, how quickly can you get one of Gizmo's walking watchers set up?" The walking watcher was the equivalent of a robotic spider that walked along sending video feed back to the receiver. With that, they could get an accurate view of what lay beneath the base and know what to expect.

Hustler replied, "Five minutes. Maybe less."

* * *

Raven enveloped herself in soul-self and brought herself and Kid Flash over to the cavern where they suspected Kyd Wykkyd had brought Lilith to the People's Redemption Army.

Raven said, "Flash, explore the cavern. See what is there. The more we know, the better."

Kid Flash replied, "On it." He quickly went to work examining the cavern while Raven pulled out the walking watcher Hustler had prepped for their exploration of the base.

Kid Flash came back and reported, "Several air ducts that go about six hundred feet deep plus a hollow section inside of the cave."

Raven and Kid Flash went over to where he saw the hollow section and Raven sent her soul-self down to explore it. She said, "It's an elevator shaft. How they get in and out of the base is here. They're underground, figuratively and literally. Now we need to know what to expect."

She walked over to one of the air ducts to insert the walking watcher. Once Raven sent it on its way, Hustler would be able to control it from the Tower and explore what was present inside.

Kid Flash cried out, "Wait. Are you sure this is legal? Don't we need a warrant?"

Raven reassured him, "When Savage is involved, a warrant isn't necessary. Now, we hope Savage doesn't find it."

With that, Raven placed the walking watcher onto the walls of one of the ducts and it immediately began to crawl down the vent towards the PRA base.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside of the base, it appears that their hopes had been quashed when Kyd Wykkyd came into Savage's office.

He reported to his boss, "Sir, they've placed a bug in the vents. They aim to see what lies ahead. We've been compromised. Shall I take out the bug?"

Savage responded, "No. Let them watch. I want the Titans to know. I want them to come. For once they do, they fall right into my trap. The Titans will fall and we will conquer the globe. Ensure the bug doesn't get squashed."

Kyd Wykkyd replied, "Yes, sir."

Wykkyd left the room as Savage continued to watch Lilith Clay trapped inside of her cell. Her test is about to be graded - whether or not her team can destroy the Titans, a team that is already there.

* * *

The walking watcher crawled down the vents as it was directed by Hustler from the main ops room. It was amazing how Gizmo managed to rig up the controller for the walking watcher from a video game console. Jinx and Ravager were watching and taking note of whatever defenses were encountered by the watcher.

A few moments later, Raven and Kid Flash arrived. Jinx asked, "So, boss, what'd you find?"

Raven responded, "There are a couple of air ducts and an elevator shaft in the cave where Kyd brought Lilith. What do you have about the ducts?"

Hustler replied, "It looks like some of the ducts were designed for bringing in oxygen with the others designed for removing carbon dioxide. How they manage to breathe. It also affects the directional pressure. The oxygen vents have a tendency to go down, which would be ideal while the carbon dioxide vents tend to go up, which could prove troublesome for an infiltration. They also are alarmed so they could detect anyone coming in if they touch it."

Ravager asked, "How much weight would trigger the alarm?"

Hustler told his sister, "About fifty pounds, and the ducts are two feet by two feet. No way we'd fit nor not trigger the alarm."

Kid Flash added, "So we need to take the elevator down, or Raven would have to bring us in through her soul-self."

Raven commented, "Knowing Savage, he would have several anti-magic wards that keep teleporters from entering, but none from leaving, well at least those that aren't prisoners. Must be why Kyd can't teleport into the base."

Jinx inquired, "Any other discoveries, Grant?"

Hustler answered, "Guards. Tons of guards with lots of firepower. Machine guns, assault rifles, explosives, plus turrets and directional sensors. We'd be cut to shreds before we can even get close to the center hub. The staging area which contains a lot of supplies and the pathway to anywhere in the complex."

Raven continued, "We're gonna need a lot of firepower. Grant, I suggest you bring an arsenal with you. Ravager, bring your swords. Flash, Jinx, your modified costumes. We need to be ready for anything Savage can throw at us."

Kid Flash asked, "But boss, what about Kyd Wykkyd? He'll be after Jinx and Ravager."

Raven responded, "That may be true but we know he's coming and Ravager is a lot harder to kill than he may think. We'll have the advantage. We know every place he could be now. Let's get to work."

With that, the Titans quickly went to work to prepare for their mobilization against the People's Redemption Army.

In addition to his jumpsuit, Hustler was wearing the self-dubbed X-vest, which contained a number of gadgets similar to those used when he was Red X. He also carried a Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifle with an M68 Aimpoint sight and M320 grenade launcher in his hands plus two SIG-Sauer P250 handguns in holsters. He kept a Micro Uzi and a Beretta 93R in his ankle holsters and had two snubnose Smith & Wesson Model 629 revolvers. On his shoulders were a slung Mossberg 590 shotgun with a breaching muzzle and shell holders and a scoped Mk1 Mod0 sniper rifle. On his back lay an MP7 submachine gun. He also kept a few hand grenades plus stun and flash grenades, and two spare 40mm rounds for the grenade launcher.

If another superhero name could be applied to Hustler now, it would be Arsenal, a name considered by Speedy when he chooses to change names.

Ravager brought with her the two katanas she always kept plus four throwing knives - two in her sleeves, two on her ankles (much like her anarment when they went to confront Ra's al Ghul). She also brought with her the two retractable hunting knives that could become a double blade on the front of her belt, a kukri and a cutlass on the side of her belt, two retractable blades in her boots, and a rapier on the back of her belt. Ravager was ready for her swords to handle just about anything.

Kid Flash and Jinx put on the modified versions of their uniforms, which were bulletproof and could handle more against sword and shrapnel damage, and met back up in the common room, where Raven had finished acquiring the feed from the walking watcher so they could be able to know what traps Savage had in place.

Raven said, "Titans go" and engulfed her team in her soul-self, bringing them to the cavern where the PRA base lay beneath.

* * *

After arriving at the cavern, Ravager quickly pulled out a device that she inserted into the cavern wall. This device soon enabled her to hack into the elevator controls and she promptly called it up for them.

A second later, two PRA guards armed with Armsel Striker shotguns came out of the elevator, searching for whoever called the lift. They were quickly handled by Kid Flash though, enabling the Titans to board the elevator without difficulty.

Raven pressed the main floor button and off went the Titans down the elevator. Raven briefed them, "We've got two guards outside the elevator and two turrets. Hustler, take out the guns. Ravager, the men. No fatalities until I say otherwise. Capiche?"

Hustler and Ravager both respond simultaneously, "Capiche."

Once the elevator landed on the floor, Ravager jumped out of the elevator and kicked the first guard armed with an AK-104 in the neck, knocking him down. She grabbed the gun and threw it into the neck of the other guard, knocking him out. With the path clear, Hustler got out of the elevator and took aim at the two turrets in the nearby hallway. With a shot each from the G36C, the guns went down.

The Titans then moved, continuing their trek towards locating Lilith, Lucien, and Vandal.

They approached a doorway, with Raven explaining, "Four guards on the other side. So is the armory. Jinx, seal them in."

Jinx responded, "With pleasure."

With that, Jinx fired a hex at the door handle, melting it so it couldn't be opened and then fired hexes at the hinges, melting them in place such that the door effectively was sealed. The PRA weapons were effectively out of reach and the Titans kept moving.

They came to another hallway, a four-way intersection with guards looking down the horizontal (to the Titans' view), making it impossible to pass. Raven concocted a distraction by setting off a small explosion with a nearby grenade, causing the guards in one side to head towards it. Raven distracted the other guards with another explosion, this time with C4.

With the guards distracted, Raven sealed the doors, preventing the guards from coming back, enabling the Titans to continue their movement.

After a few moments, the Titans arrived in the central corridor, so they could head off to find Lilith and stop Savage.

Before they could move, they heard a sardonic clapping in the distance. They saw Vandal Savage, wearing the Black Bear mask, up in the observatory as he said, "Bravo, Raven. You found us. Congratulations to you and your team."

Raven spat, "Game over, Savage. We know you're responsible. And the League is ready to put you back on Cryo-1 where you should have been for a decade."

Savage replied, "Maybe, but I'm not ready to be on board with Zatanna just yet. Maybe you will once I conquer the world."

Hustler asked, "How are you gonna do that?"

The response was, "Simple. You Titans were named after a piece of Greek mythology, so it is only fitting that another piece of Greek mythology bring you down."

With that, the Titans saw as a figure came up from the floor, wearing red armor over his body and instead of a right arm is a cannon. He is wearing an iron mask. Savage said, "Meet the neo-Nazi with an indestructible armor and an arm cannon. Red Panzer."

Soon another figure emerged from the floor, this one having claws, a green dress, and a very familiar mask. Jinx muttered, "Jade."

Savage confirmed, "That's right Jinx. Say hello to the clawed assassin Cheshire."

A third figure soon arose from the floor, wearing a white mask similar to that worn by Robin and Speedy. She had orange pads on her shoulders, a red jumpsuit, and a weapons belt with two Webley Mk VI revolvers. "Now, meet the mercenary for hire with a deadly edge, Lady Vic."

Up next came a woman with black hair and a blue robe from beneath the floor, and she looked definitely ready to attack the Titans. "Let's hear it for the screaming Siren."

Lastly from the floor came what appeared to be a very large monkey - one slightly larger than Monsieur Mallah, and wearing an iron helmet, looking at Kid Flash with fury. "And last but definitely not least, here is the mind-controlling Gorilla Grodd."

The five villains looked at the Titans, ready to fight them as the Titans prepared themselves for the fight. Soon emerging next to Savage was Lilith, whose hands and feet were chained so she could not move nor oppose Savage.

Ravager shrieked, "Lilith Clay. What's going on?"

Raven responded, "That's what Savage needed her for. To pick the people set on destroying us."

Savage answered, "A point for Raven, figuring out what I kidnapped little Miss Clay for. Now, Lilith, you get to watch as the team you hand-picked slaughters the Titans and sends them to oblivion. Titans, prepare to meet your makers, the Tartarus."


End file.
